Recently, reporters from the Economic Information Daily conducted surveys in Guangzhou and other places and found that many foreign trade export companies reported that weak external demand and trade barriers have made exports worse. Foreign trade data and the current status of enterprises show that the severity of the foreign trade situation is far beyond expectations at the beginning of the year.

In order to stabilize foreign trade, relevant policies have been added again recently. On the 26th, Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council to deploy further cleaning and standardization of import and export charges. The relevant policy details of the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation and other departments have begun to be implemented. Hebei, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places have also urgently deployed policies to stabilize foreign trade. Experts pointed out that it is expected that after the policy effects are apparent, the foreign trade situation is expected to gradually stabilize and rebound. However, China's foreign trade has entered a new normal of medium-to-low-speed growth. For enterprises, the key lies in striving to enhance the international competitiveness of export products, open up new markets and create new platforms.

Test: Weak overseas market, general decline in exports

"From last year to now, the foreign trade situation is very severe. From the perspective of the two industries of mobile phones and color TVs, exports have declined overall, especially color TVs. The downward trend in the first and second quarters of this year is very obvious." Liang Qichun, assistant president of TCL Group and general manager of the brand management center, told reporters.

Liang Qichun said that from the perspective of the traditional European and American markets, the slow recovery of the local economy has caused the weakness of the overseas market. In addition, exchange rate changes also directly affect export volume. TCL's overseas business is mainly settled in US dollars and euros, and the part settled in euros is greatly affected.

"From the perspective of emerging markets, although some countries such as Egypt, Angola and Argentina have demand, foreign exchange controls have a great impact on us." He said that the decline in oil prices has caused these countries to reduce their dollar income, so there is not enough foreign exchange to pay Chinese companies for goods, and the local currency cannot be exchanged for US dollars. The backlog of accounts receivable of Chinese companies has increased financial risks. Failure to receive payment will further affect the credit line provided by China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation to enterprises, resulting in many goods being unable to be shipped out.

"We have a large distributor in Argentina with whom we have been working closely for many years, but in addition to foreign exchange controls, the local government has also introduced a new foreign exchange balance policy. If you want to import as much as you want, you must export as much. If local import companies do not complete exports, they cannot buy electronic products produced by Chinese companies. This is actually equivalent to a new trade barrier." Liang Qichun said.

As a long-established large state-owned enterprise group in Guangdong Province, Guangxin Holding Group Co., Ltd.'s foreign trade business in the first half of the year was not satisfactory. According to Bai Mingshao, the company's deputy general manager, the group's import and export trade volume in the first half of the year was about US$1 billion, of which exports fell 18% year-on-year, and imports showed an expansion trend, up 45% year-on-year.

In Bai Mingshao's view, there are several reasons for the decline in Guangxin Group's exports: First, Guangxin Group is actively adjusting its product structure and business model, compressing some high-risk businesses; second, as the main export of Guangxin Group, stainless steel coils have been hit by the EU anti-dumping, involving an amount of up to 400 million yuan; in addition, the instability of the RMB exchange rate and the weakness of foreign markets have also affected exports.

Kingfa Technology is a high-tech company mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of high-performance modified plastics, and its export products are mainly for the European market. Peng Zhongquan, assistant to the general manager of the company, told reporters that the current overall environment is not optimistic and market demand has not increased significantly.

Many places have taken measures to stabilize foreign trade growth

The feelings of export companies also echoed the cold import and export data: China's total import and export value, exports and imports all showed negative growth in July. "From the situation in the first half of the year and the trend in the second half of the year, the situation facing China's foreign trade development can be said to be more severe and more complicated than expected, and it also faces many uncertainties." Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said recently.

It is worth noting that from the official PMI new order index in July and the leading index of China's foreign trade exports compiled by the customs, it is still difficult to be optimistic for some time in the future, and China's export pressure in the third quarter is still relatively large. Shen Danyang pointed out that it is expected that exports for the whole year will still achieve positive growth. Considering the high base in the second half of last year and the abnormal growth in some months, it is not ruled out that exports in some months in the future will still show negative growth.

Faced with the severe and complex foreign trade situation, the policy of stabilizing foreign trade has been strengthened again. On August 26, Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council to deploy further cleaning and standardizing import and export charges to reduce the burden on enterprise development. This is also the second time that the State Council has deployed to stabilize foreign trade after the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting Stable Growth of Imports and Exports" ("National Seven Articles") on the 24th of last month.

Under the overall arrangement at the national level, the relevant policy details of the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation and other departments have also begun to be implemented. In addition, Hebei, Tianjin, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places also conducted emergency investigations, held forums for foreign trade enterprises, and arranged the implementation of policies to stabilize foreign trade.

Hebei Province recently issued 18 measures to promote the steady growth and structural adjustment of foreign trade, including encouraging financial institutions to increase financial support for foreign trade enterprises; increasing the proportion of trade in electromechanical, high-tech products and services; supporting the development of foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises, etc.

The Tianjin Municipal Commission of Commerce has also recently launched a foreign trade survey, held a foreign trade symposium, and studied and formulated policy measures to stabilize foreign trade growth, focusing on accelerating the progress of export tax rebates, improving the level of customs clearance facilitation, vigorously exploring international markets, supporting and encouraging the expansion of imports, developing new trade formats, broadening financial service channels, cleaning up import and export charges, and increasing work assessment efforts.

On the basis of the 25 measures issued last year to support the stable growth of foreign trade, Guangdong has launched another 20 measures this year to promote the stable growth and transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, and has decomposed and issued foreign trade indicators and tasks, signed a target responsibility letter, and implemented the responsibility for the stable growth of foreign trade to the prefecture-level cities.

Looking forward to the new normal of medium-to-low-speed growth in imports and exports

Li Jian, director of the Institute of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, told the Economic Information Daily reporter that the severity of the foreign trade situation this year is far beyond expectations, mainly because the external environment is more complicated than expected at the beginning of the year, and China's structural adjustment process is still continuing. It now seems that the process of adjustment of the international and Chinese economies will be long-term, and China's foreign trade will bid farewell to the double-digit high-speed growth of the past and enter a new normal of medium-to-low-speed growth.

In Li Jian's view, the various policies to stabilize foreign trade introduced this year are timely and necessary, which can ease the pressure on export enterprises and prevent the foreign trade situation from being too bad, and also give enterprises time to transform and upgrade. It is expected that after the policy effect is apparent, the foreign trade situation is expected to gradually stabilize and rebound. However, he also pointed out that the general trend of China's foreign trade entering a new normal cannot be reversed, and future growth still needs to be supported by exports of high-tech products, large equipment, and service trade. For enterprises, the most critical thing is to strive to enhance the international competitiveness of export products, open up new markets, and create new platforms.

In the face of difficulties, enterprises have also begun to actively transform and respond. It is understood that TCL will adopt a new strategic model of "double +" (intelligence + Internet, products + services), and continue to promote internationalization strategy and optimize overseas layout. In the next step, it will take root in key emerging market countries, build factories in India, Brazil and other places, intervene in the entire enterprise chain, and cooperate with local enterprises in joint ventures to achieve a "win-win" situation. And gradually transition from the current multi-brand operation to a global unified brand, and gradually expand the "double +" strategic transformation from China to overseas.

Plastic Industry Video