With sudden falls, sudden rises, and great ups and downs, foreign trade has gone through an unimaginable 2020.
Zhejiang foreign trade boss Li Feng still remembers that in February 2020, when the epidemic was serious, the shortage of epidemic prevention materials and the initiative to delay the resumption of work made him confused about the future. To start or not to start, that is the question. Partners also kept calling to check whether orders could be delivered on time. But when he invested heavily in anti-epidemic supplies and officially resumed production in late February, the global epidemic spread in March, causing foreign orders to be canceled one after another.
Due to no orders, in April, a company in Zhuhai announced that it would take a half-year holiday and resume work again on October 8. Li Feng, who barely started work, was also fatally injured by the lack of orders and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
However, by the middle of the year, foreign trade orders gradually picked up, and the heads of foreign trade companies represented by Li Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
No one expected that such a recovery would continue to accelerate in the second half of the year. By the end of the year, there were even more orders than could be received, and major foreign trade companies were recruiting temporary workers and working overtime. Complete order.
It is not difficult to see from the data that in the first three quarters of 2020, my country’s import and export data ranged from -6.5% to -0.2%, and then to 7.5%. Foreign trade has embarked on a bright path. Invert the curve.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Commerce, my country’s total import and export of goods trade is expected to reach about 32 trillion yuan in 2020, and the actual use of foreign investment throughout the year will exceed 140 billion U.S. dollars. , international market share and attracting foreign investment have all reached record highs.
Now, an average of 60 million yuan of goods enter and leave the country every minute. According to WTO data, my country’s international market share will further increase in 2020 and will exceed the historical high of 13.8% in 2015. This is unique under the dual pressure of the global economic recession and the new coronavirus epidemic, and this may also affect the future my country’s foreign trade proportion in the world.
At the bottom
“At the beginning of 2020, the epidemic prevention work was under great pressure and orders were extremely shrinking. They all feel that they can no longer hold on and may go bankrupt soon.” Li Feng frowned when he was interviewed by a reporter from China Times.
From the inability to deliver orders due to shutdowns to the lack of orders after resumption of work and production, foreign trade is reaching the most difficult moment in history. Colleagues kept calling each other, but they could only get the same notification: “delivery suspended,” “order cancelled,” and “subsequent production suspended.”
Although the impact of the epidemic has penetrated all walks of life, there are still very few industries like foreign trade companies that were affected by the domestic epidemic in February and the international epidemic in March.
When I opened the website where foreign trade people gathered, there was a lot of wailing. Some long-established foreign trade companies collapsed, while others attempted difficult transformation. But no matter which path is chosen, Chinese foreign trade companies are suffering in the first half of 2020. The spreading epidemic has made foreign trade companies unable to see the way forward.
Under heavy pressure, in April, Zhuhai Jinghao Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Huaxin Microelectronics Co., Ltd. announced “long holidays” to reduce consumption. “Extend the life” of companies without orders.
But Li Feng chose to bite the bullet and continue to produce unsold products. “The factory can continue for a while and pay some wages to the workers.”
On June 9, Premier Li Keqiang chaired an executive meeting of the State Council to help foreign trade companies bail out, encourage companies to expand international markets, and support marketable export products. Develop domestic market.
However, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng also admitted that due to the different domestic and foreign trade market environments, foreign trade companies face some specific difficulties when expanding the domestic market, such as difficulty in expanding sales channels and production line diversion. Difficulty, difficulty in brand building, etc.
“Many foreign trade companies in China mainly do OEM, that is, they receive orders and then produce according to orders. They have neither their own R&D team nor a dedicated sales team, and they have no knowledge of the market. If you are not familiar with the rules such as access, sales, and settlement, it will be difficult to win domestic orders and do domestic trade,” Li Feng said.
However, in order to survive, you have to do it no matter how difficult it is. Domestic OEMs of well-known foreign brands have begun to switch to domestic trade. Transformation has become a key word that foreign trade companies cannot avoid in the first half of the year.
Recovery
But no one expected that after experiencing the “order shortage” in April and May, “After the darkest moment, Chinese foreign trade companies suddenly felt the warmth in the traditional foreign trade off-season of June and July.
According to the import and export data released by the General Administration of Customs, in June, import and export increased by 5.1% year-on-year, of which exports increased by 4.3% and imports increased by 6.2%, both achieving positive growth. .
The dominoes in the foreign trade chain affect the fate of many companies. According to Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, in 2020, our country will stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment. A series of policies such as , protecting market entities, etc. have effectively helped my country’s foreign trade companies tide over difficulties.
Shao Yu, chief economist of Orient Securities, commented: “China’s overall foreign trade performance far exceeds market expectations.” Prior to this, the WTO predicted that the trade volume in 2020 Next meeting30%-40% reduction. But China has achieved growth against the trend.
Li Feng’s factory also welcomed customers who kept inquiring. “More and more people are making inquiries, and orders have also increased. We have a total of five cabinets to be shipped in July. Compared with the traditional foreign trade off-season in previous years, the foreign trade situation in 2020 has begun to improve.” Li Feng said.
Data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange show that in July, my country’s income from international trade in goods and services based on the balance of payments caliber was 1,757.4 billion yuan, and expenditures were 1,381.8 billion yuan. Among them, the goods trade surplus was 451 billion yuan and the service trade deficit was 75.4 billion yuan.
It was also at this time that in order to further stabilize foreign trade, senior officials held high-level meetings for two consecutive days. On July 29, Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, deploying further expansion of opening up, stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment, and deciding to deepen the innovative development pilot of service trade; on July 30, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce, Gao Feng stated that the next steps will be We will introduce new policies and measures in a timely manner and go all out to stabilize foreign trade.
“The situation will become more complex and severe in the second half of the year. The Ministry of Commerce will step up the implementation of various support measures and study and introduce more new policies and measures to effectively enhance the sense of gain for foreign trade and foreign-invested enterprises. Resolutely stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment.” Ren Hongbin, Assistant Minister of Commerce, said in the outlook.
Surge
In August, September and October, Chinese foreign trade companies suddenly experienced several Good times to come.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, overseas production is facing stagnation. China has taken on the important task of producing orders for the world. Many textile foreign trade factories have experienced an explosion of orders, and some factories have even had their orders queued up. May 2021.
“Orders began to come back, and the turnover for two consecutive months was twice that of the same period in 2019. The production capacity in August was close to 300,000 pieces, reaching the full-year production capacity in 2019. 15%.” said the person in charge of a foreign trade garment factory in Panyu.
With the sudden explosion of the textile market, the entire foreign trade industry has been “ignited”, and orders for digital electronic products, leather shoes, large machinery, etc. are also continuing to rise. Especially in September, the traditional peak season in the European and American markets, the purchase of Thanksgiving and Christmas supplies brings a large number of orders, and online demand is also increasing.
“In recent months, things have turned around and orders have increased dramatically. We even need a large number of workers to work overtime to complete the orders.” Li Feng said.
When there are orders, there will be production, and when there are production companies, they will regain their vitality.
In Zhang Jianping’s view, currently, China’s exports to other countries have formed a substitution effect, so exports have increased sharply against the trend. Before the global epidemic is brought under control, this substitution effect will continue. It will last for a period of time. Therefore, China’s foreign trade is expected to maintain a certain speed in 2021! </p
