15 new measures to cheer foreign trade enterprises

This article is transferred from: overseas edition of people's daily

In the middle of winter, the front line of foreign trade is in full swing. Ocean going cargo ships are leaving the port one after another loaded with containers, and China Europe trains are shuttling intensively between Asia and Europe. In 2021, China's foreign trade will hand over a brilliant report card. Can this good momentum continue in the new year?

Recently, the general office of the State Council issued the opinions on doing a good job in cross cycle regulation and further stabilizing foreign trade, with 15 specific measures to help foreign trade from four aspects: strengthening fiscal, tax and financial policy support, encouraging the development of new forms of foreign trade, alleviating the pressure of foreign trade supply chain such as international logistics, and supporting key industries and key enterprises. These practical and hard moves were welcomed by foreign trade subjects, and everyone said that "there is a bottom in the heart of stabilizing foreign trade"!

There is a foundation and conditions for stabilizing foreign trade

In 2021, the volume and quality of China's foreign trade development will rise simultaneously, driving the growth of the national economy and making important contributions to the global economy.

Look at the scale - in 2021, China's import and export scale reached US $6.05 trillion. During the year, it has successively crossed the two levels of US $5 trillion and US $6 trillion, reaching an all-time high. In terms of RMB, the total value of China's import and export of goods trade in 2021 reached 39.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.4% year-on-year.

Looking at quality - the mode of trade was further optimized, and the import and export of general trade accounted for more than 60%. The vitality of foreign trade business entities was effectively stimulated, and the import and export scale of private enterprises increased by 26.7%, accounting for 48.6%, an increase of 2 percentage points. The import and export of mechanical and electrical products maintained a good growth trend.

Look at new business forms - cross border e-commerce has increased nearly 10 times in five years and maintained double-digit growth in 2021; More than 1500 foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises; The number of overseas warehouses exceeds 2000; About 130 bonded maintenance projects for processing trade have been completed; Offshore trade has developed steadily... New business forms and models have become a new driving force for China's foreign trade transformation and upgrading and high-quality development.

In an interview with our reporter, Zhao Ping, vice president of the Research Institute of the China Council for the promotion of international trade, said that China's foreign trade operated well in 2021 and achieved remarkable results in stabilizing foreign trade, which laid a good foundation for the next step of stabilizing foreign trade.

One belt, one road, China's foreign trade market has been accelerating. The circle of friends has been expanding, and the traditional markets, which are mainly developed economies, continue to consolidate. The emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America, South Asia and Russia have been growing rapidly, and the economic and trade cooperation with the "one belt" along the way has been deepened. Industry plays an increasingly important role in the pattern of foreign trade. Various open platforms such as comprehensive bonded zone, free trade pilot zone and Hainan free trade port play a stronger leading role in the growth of foreign trade and escort the steady growth of China's foreign trade. " Zhao Ping said.

However, the production and operation of foreign trade enterprises are also facing pressure that can not be underestimated. Stabilizing the main body and ensuring orders requires stabilizing foreign trade policies to further form a joint force. "China's foreign trade climbed a high slope in 2021, and there was great pressure to stabilize foreign trade in 2022. In order to smooth the short-term fluctuations of foreign trade that may be caused by sudden factors such as the epidemic, China proposed to do a good job in cross cycle adjustment in the field of foreign trade for the first time." Liang Ming, director of the Institute of foreign trade of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said.

Zhao Ping analyzed that under the background of the fragile recovery of the world economy and the continuous impact of the epidemic, foreign trade enterprises are generally faced with "three deficiencies" such as lack of cores, cabinets and workers, as well as "four rise" challenges such as freight, raw material costs, energy and resource prices and the rise of RMB exchange rate. In this regard, we need to do a good job in stabilizing foreign trade in 2022 from a broader cross cyclical perspective and based on the complex and changeable environment at home and abroad. She believed that the "opinions" focused on the effective combination of long-term and short-term policies, reflecting the dual policy orientation of taking into account the short-term and medium-term local problems in stabilizing foreign trade and the medium-term and long-term development goals. The promulgation of the opinions will provide support for helping enterprises to bail out, especially supporting small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises and promoting the steady development of foreign trade.

Helping enterprises to bail out and stabilizing market players

"The accelerated handling of tax rebates has helped us improve the efficiency of the use of funds." At present, it is the season for a large number of oranges to appear on the market and the peak season for canned orange production. Xiao Li'an, chairman of Huimei Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. in the West Dongting management area of Changde City, Hunan Province, gave a thumbs up to the accelerating progress of export tax rebate.

In 2021, after the enterprise moved into the new park, the capital turnover of the enterprise was once under pressure due to the epidemic, the rising cost of raw materials and human resources, and the high shipping price. To this end, the tax department took the initiative to carry out "one-to-one" accurate assistance and set up a green window for export tax rebate. From January to November last year, the company's accumulated export tax rebate reached 688800 yuan. "Timely capital guarantee enables foreign trade enterprises to send more high-quality products abroad." Xiao Lian said.

Market players are the cornerstone of the steady development of foreign trade. Stable orders and expectations of foreign trade enterprises are inseparable from the strong support of a series of fiscal, tax, financial and industrial policies. The opinions put forward a number of new measures to tap the import and export potential, ensure the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain supply chain, stabilize the main body and ensure orders, and bring more sense of gain to foreign trade enterprises:

Export tax rebate will also be accelerated - in 2022, the progress of export tax rebate will continue to accelerate, and the average time for tax authorities to handle normal export tax rebate will be reduced to less than 6 working days.

Direct attack on the problem of difficult recruitment and expensive employment - for export enterprises of labor-intensive products such as textiles, clothing and furniture, all localities will continue to implement various policies and measures to reduce the burden, stabilize posts and expand employment.

Consolidate and enhance the role of export credit insurance - optimize the conditions for export credit insurance underwriting and claim settlement, actively expand the underwriting of industrial chain, and strengthen the protection of small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises and the risk of cancellation of orders before shipment.

Solve the problem of difficult and expensive financing - encourage and guide banking institutions to innovate insurance policy financing and other products in combination with the needs of foreign trade enterprises, and all kinds of financial institutions to increase credit support for foreign trade enterprises, especially small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises, in accordance with the principle of Marketization.

Improve the ability of foreign trade enterprises to deal with exchange rate risks - keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level, promote banking institutions to further carry out long-term foreign exchange settlement and sales business for small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises, and actively and steadily promote RMB cross-border trade settlement.

Support key industries and enterprises - strengthen the cultivation and construction of national processing trade industrial parks, and speed up the cultivation and identification of a new batch of processing trade gradient transfer undertaking and demonstration sites. Cultivate a number of trade double circulation enterprises. Support export enterprises of labor-intensive products in a compliant manner, and support local governments to study and establish a fixed-point regular monitoring mechanism for employment in the field of foreign trade.

Liang Ming said that the measures in the opinions on accelerating export tax rebate, improving export credit insurance and alleviating the pressure of international logistics have alleviated the current difficulties for foreign trade enterprises, maintained the continuity and stability of policies, and helped stabilize the basic market of foreign trade.

Promote high-quality development of foreign trade

In the view of many foreign trade business entities, cracking "old problems" and expanding "new fields" are a highlight of the opinions, which will play a great role in promoting the high-quality development of foreign trade.

High commodity prices and high pressure on raw material costs; Rising shipping prices and shortage of containers add variables to cross-border logistics; It is difficult for foreign trade enterprises to adapt to the external impact caused by exchange rate fluctuations and market changes... Solving these "old problems" that continue to haunt enterprises in recent years largely depends on whether they can ensure the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain and supply chain.

In order to smooth the foreign trade supply chain, the opinions proposed to encourage foreign trade enterprises to sign long-term agreements with shipping enterprises and organize small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises to connect with shipping enterprises directly. Strengthen supervision in the field of international maritime transport and call for joint unimpeded international logistics on multilateral and bilateral occasions. We will do a good job in the import of bulk commodities and actively ensure the domestic supply of bulk commodities. We will accelerate trade adjustment assistance. The reporter learned that many foreign trade enterprises have been docking with shipping enterprises to explore long-term cooperation.

In promoting the innovative development of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouse, offshore trade, green trade and trade digitization have become the "key words" of stabilizing foreign trade. The opinions clearly stipulates that a number of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones will be added to cultivate a number of offshore trade center cities (regions). At the same time, financial institutions will be encouraged to increase support for the construction and use of overseas warehouses by various enterprises in the form of market operation, so as to promote the high-quality development of overseas warehouses; Adjust and optimize the list of cross-border e-commerce retail imported goods, expand import categories, and better meet diversified consumption needs.

"In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to promote the innovation of foreign trade system, mode and format, and accelerate the high-quality development of trade." According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, we will expand a new batch of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test areas, improve the overseas warehouse network and steadily promote the development of offshore trade. Explore the establishment of green trade standards and certification system and create a green trade development platform. Promote the digital development of trade and the digital transformation of foreign trade enterprises, and build a number of trade digital pilot areas in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, Dawan district and other regions.

To stabilize foreign trade, how to effectively connect short-term and medium and long-term policies? Zhao Ping said that in promoting the implementation of the opinions, we should focus on "steady growth" in the short term and "promoting reform" in the medium and long term. "In the short term, we should promote the stability of foreign trade with the stability of policies, and focus on better ensuring employment, main body, industrial chain and supply chain stability, so as to ensure that the policy does not make a sharp turn. In the medium and long term, we should implement the opinions." We should take the overall and systematic issues in the development of foreign trade as the guidance, coordinate development and security, focus on innovation driven and green empowerment, and ensure that the high-quality development goal of foreign trade during the 14th Five Year Plan period can be achieved on schedule. " Zhao Ping said.

At the beginning of the new year, the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP) came into force. At present, foreign trade enterprises are thinking about seizing opportunities and developing RCEP national market. Luo Ning, general manager of Zhejiang Ningbo Saijia Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., said that the company's team has recently sorted out the list of available RCEP policies one by one. "RCEP has brought about a reduction in tariffs, promoted the free flow of factors and further improved the business environment. We are ready to grasp the positive effects brought by the entry into force of RCEP and speed up the layout of new overseas production and marketing bases."

New opportunities continue to emerge, and with the support of good policies, we have more confidence in stabilizing foreign trade!