Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 10th. Recently, the first foreign trade report card in the second half of the year was released-an increase of 24.5%.

　　 14 consecutive months of positive year-on-year growth, maintaining high double-digit growth, and the trend can be described as stable.

　　 According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first seven months of this year, my country’s total import and export value was 21.34 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.5% and a year-on-year increase of 22.3%.

　　 "It is quite resilient and has maintained a double-digit growth compared to 2019." said Li Kuiwen, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs.

　　He said that after my country's import and export scale hit the best level in the same period in history in the first half of the year, under the influence of a higher base, the growth rate of import and export in the first 7 months slowed down year-on-year, but it still maintained a relatively high level, which is not easy.

　　 At present, the epidemic has rebounded significantly in many areas overseas, bringing uncertainty to the prospects for the recovery of the world economy.

　　 Looking at the month of July, my country’s total import and export value increased by 11.5% year-on-year, decreased by 0.8% month-on-month, and increased by 18.8% year-on-year.

　　Imports and exports fell from the previous month in July, what do you think?

"Combined with the weakening of PMI's new export orders in July, it means that the pressure on exports has increased." Bai Ming, deputy director of the Institute of International Market Research of the Ministry of Commerce, analyzed that raw material prices remained high and logistics costs only increased. Factors such as the fall, the fluctuation of the RMB exchange rate and other factors are still putting great pressure on foreign trade companies.

　　 At present, the impact of the epidemic on international trade cannot be underestimated. In Southeast Asia, an important manufacturing base in the world, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries are being constrained by a new round of epidemics, and some countries' closure measures have led to increased port congestion.

　　 "I can't send out the goods, waiting for the freight to rise again." said Dong Lili, deputy general manager of the marketing center of Zhejiang Wanma Polymer Materials Group Co., Ltd. The company is mainly engaged in high-molecular material products for cables, which are mainly sold to ASEAN, the Middle East, South America and other places, 95% of which rely on sea transportation.

　　 Dong Lili introduced that the proportion of corporate exports rose from only 5.6% last year to more than 10% in the first half of this year. Orders in July were "generally stable with a slight decrease."

Bai Ming said that although the global epidemic has rebounded, with the increase in vaccination rates around the world, and the production of some countries are not restricted by epidemic prevention, the productivity of countries has gradually recovered, and the dependence on China's production capacity has gradually decreased, which has also led to the return of orders. One of the reasons for the decline in exports.

Speaking of pressure, Hu Xuelian, senior customs manager of the supply chain of Jiangsu Baoshide Technology (China) Co., Ltd., also said that factors such as rising raw material prices, global chip shortages, shipping companies’ insufficient capacity and on-time shift rates, have put a lot of pressure on business operations. Increased, "We need to spend higher prices to secure the supply of raw materials."

　　 Pressure has not restrained the vitality of China's foreign trade.

　　 From the perspective of business entities, private enterprises have the fastest growth rate and strong momentum in import and export. In the first seven months, the import and export of private enterprises increased by 31%, accounting for 47.9% of my country's total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.4 percentage points over the same period last year.

　　Take Baoshide as an example. The company integrates R&D, manufacturing, and marketing of power tools. Orders in July increased by about 30% compared to June.

"The U.S. region's major customers grew by about 32%, and the European region's growth by about 28%." Hu Xuelian said that the increase in orders in July was due to the impact of the epidemic and lagging shipping schedules. The traditional peak sales season came early, and customers were "Black Friday" ahead of schedule. And stock up for the Christmas season.

　　 Resilience under pressure, Chinese foreign trade companies are responding to changes and seizing opportunities.

　　 Since its establishment 20 years ago, Baosteel has always used sea transportation as its export logistics method. But in April this year, the company decided to choose a new export channel-China-Europe Express. Since April, the 35 TEU smart lawn mowers produced by Bao Shide have been transported to Europe from Chongqing, Suzhou, Yiwu and other places on the China-Europe Express train.

　　 "The company chooses China-Europe Express to meet the timeliness requirements and market promotions during the peak sales season in Europe." Hu Xuelian said.

　　 On July 1st last year, 300 vacuum cleaners were successfully declared at the Suzhou Industrial Park Customs according to the "cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouse" trade method. This is also the first cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouse business in Jiangsu. Over the past year, the company's cross-border e-commerce business has grown gratifyingly, which is a vivid epitome of the development of foreign trade led by new business forms such as cross-border e-commerce.

　　 "The annual orders for our cross-border e-commerce business have been full." Hu Xuelian said that the overall demand for orders in the second half of this year is strong, and major customers are still optimistic about China's manufacturing. After launching the cross-border e-commerce business, the company's sales on the Amazon platform accounted for about 2% of the overall sales, and it is expected that it will continue to grow and develop in the future.

　　 Hu Xuelian introduced that after successfully launching cross-border e-commerce business in North America, Baosteel will also develop new cross-border e-commerce business in Europe and other places, "I believe that future performance will be very bright."

"Not blindly optimistic, nor pessimistic." Dong Lili said that although the epidemic has brought a lot of uncertainty, it also brought opportunities for cable materials to enter relatively exclusive foreign markets. As the epidemic gradually improves, exporting countries' operating rates With gradual recovery, exports will continue to rise slightly throughout the year.

　　 Tu Xinquan, Dean of the China WTO Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, believes that China's role in maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain is irreplaceable, and its role is becoming more and more prominent. The current risks and challenges facing China's foreign trade generally come from the outside, forcing foreign trade companies to accelerate their pace of transformation and upgrading, seize the opportunity of restructuring the global industrial chain and supply chain, grasp the development trend of new formats and models of foreign trade, and steadily respond to opportunities and challenges.