Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 9th. Title: Positive factors continue to increase, and the momentum of "quality improvement and quantity stability" is strengthened - my country's foreign trade has further consolidated its positive trend in the first four

On the 9th, the General Administration of Customs released the latest data: In the first four months of this year, the total value of my country's import and export of goods was 13.81 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%. In March, my country's import and export growth rate fell year-on-year; in April alone, imports and exports increased by 8% and 4.4% in RMB and US dollars respectively, and the foreign trade trend was obvious.

Through the "Foreign Trade Window", we can see that my country continues to expand its high-level opening up to the outside world. A series of policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade have helped the majority of foreign trade entities to rise to the challenge and innovate and develop, and promote the "quality and quantity stability" of foreign trade, injecting confidence and momentum into consolidating the recovery of economic operation.

The trend is positive, and the fundamentals of foreign trade continue to improve

The scale of foreign trade is 13.81 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7% - Regarding the foreign trade performance in the first four months, Lu Daliang, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, said that since the beginning of this year, the positive factors in my country's foreign trade field have continued to increase, and the momentum has continued to increase. The growth rate of imports and exports in the first four months has accelerated by 0.7 percentage points compared with the first quarter, and the scale has reached a historical high for the same period, and my country's foreign trade trend has been further consolidated.

Specifically, the competitive advantages of my country's major export products have continued to increase. As technological innovation continues to drive industrial innovation, in the first four months, there was broad demand in the international market for Chinese-made and Chinese-created products such as ships, electric vehicles, and construction machinery, with exports growing by 108.4%, 28.3%, and 16.2% year-on-year, respectively.

At the same time, imports continued to improve. The continuous improvement in domestic production has led to the acceleration of imports of related products. In the first four months, my country's imports of intermediate products in the manufacturing industry increased by 10% year-on-year, 2.3 percentage points faster than the first quarter.

While the cumulative growth rate has been stable and improved, the strong recovery of the monthly data is eye-catching: imports and exports in April were 3.64 trillion yuan, an increase of 8% year-on-year, reversing the negative growth of the previous month. Among them, the export value and import value increased by 8.9 percentage points and 10.2 percentage points respectively, demonstrating strong resilience.

Lu Daliang said that in April, my country's imports and exports to emerging markets continued to improve, and imports and exports to traditional markets such as Europe and the United States turned from decline to increase. In addition, there were two more working days than the same period last year, which drove the overall import and export growth rate from negative to positive.

Improve quality and tap potential, and accelerate the release of new momentum for foreign trade

In March, New Zealand's first fruit ship this year arrived in Shanghai, delivering the "taste" of the southern hemisphere; in April, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport opened a new cargo route to France, and bilateral cooperation was mutually beneficial; in May, the first GAC Trumpchi car train departed from Guangzhou to Europe, adding a new channel for domestic car exports... China's foreign trade is accelerating in improving quality and efficiency, and the potential for power is being released.

——Foreign trade operators are full of vitality. In the first four months, the number of private enterprises with import and export performance in my country increased by 10.1% year-on-year, and the import and export value increased by 10.7%, accounting for 54.6% of my country's foreign trade, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the same period last year.

——The layout of diversified international markets continues to deepen. In the first four months, my country's imports and exports to countries participating in the construction of the "Belt and Road" increased by 6.4% year-on-year, and imports and exports to emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa, and the five Central Asian countries increased by 11.7%, 7.7%, and 17.9%, respectively, all higher than the overall growth rate of my country's foreign trade.

However, there are still difficulties and challenges behind the stabilization and improvement. The expected slowdown in external demand growth, the increase in the risk of geopolitical conflicts, and the rising momentum of trade protectionism are prominent.

In a complex and severe situation, the more uncertainty increases, the more we need to work towards "newness".

The meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held at the end of April pointed out that it is necessary to actively expand trade in intermediate products, trade in services, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports, support private enterprises to expand overseas markets, and increase efforts to attract and utilize foreign capital.

Automatic feeding smart cooking machine, wireless vacuum and mop integrated washing machine... Tineco Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. has shifted from OEM production to making its own brand products. Luo Mingbo, general manager of the company's international business operations department, said: "The market space for 'Chinese smart manufacturing' is large. Now the way of cooperation with foreign merchants is constantly being renewed, and overseas business is expected to continue to grow by double digits."

The Canton Fair, which just concluded, also reflects the "new" picture of China's foreign trade: new products, new technologies, new materials, new processes, and new ideas are emerging in an endless stream, and more high-end, intelligent, green, and low-carbon products are emerging, which are popular in the international market and inject new vitality into the development of foreign trade.

Adapting to changes, policy "gift packages" boost confidence

Since the beginning of this year, many departments have successively issued a series of new measures to promote institutional opening and expand high-level opening to the outside world, covering private enterprises, cross-border trade, financial opening and other fields.

In the workshop of Zhejiang Innovation Laser Equipment Co., Ltd., which is in intense production, General Manager Peng Xuezhou, who had just returned from the Canton Fair, was full of confidence: "This year, we will not only go abroad to participate in exhibitions, but also plan to establish a joint venture in Germany to focus on developing emerging markets."

Following the evolution of the global value chain and industrial chain, China's foreign trade has shown strong resilience and adaptability, and has been continuously supported by policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade.

Internally, reform and innovation. The General Administration of Customs has added 17 convenience measures to expand the certified economic operator (AEO) system to emerging formats such as cross-border e-commerce and a large number of small, medium and micro enterprises.

"The company has passed the AEO certification standard, and the customs clearance efficiency has increased by 30%, and the management level, corporate reputation and comprehensive competitiveness have been improved." Duan Songtao, deputy general manager of Wanbao Group, said, "We will make full use of the dividends of the AEO system, increase technological innovation, and accelerate the export of smart manufacturing."

Outward, openness and upgrading. Many foreign trade enterprises have tried every means to stabilize exports to developed economies, and have taken advantage of the "Belt and Road" initiative to expand trade in intermediate products and cross-border e-commerce businesses.

Jiangsu Province Soho Holdings Group Co., Ltd. has transformed into a new business service provider and established the Central Asia Jiangsu Center in Kazakhstan. "Exploring new foreign trade models such as 'China-Europe Express + Overseas Warehouse' and 'Cross-border E-commerce + Industrial Belt', we will work together with upstream and downstream to form stronger competitiveness." said Ding Hai, vice president of Soho.

"Based on the current data, it is expected that my country's foreign trade situation will gradually improve in the second quarter." Zhao Fujun, director of the Comprehensive Research Office of the Foreign Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that as the policy effects gradually emerge and high-level opening-up steadily advances, my country's new momentum for high-quality trade development will be accelerated, and foreign trade growth will continue to be revitalized.