The Ministry of Commerce talks about the foreign trade situation: the decline in orders and insufficient demand are the main difficulties

Recently, the foreign trade figures of neighboring countries and regions have dropped significantly. China's foreign trade figures for the first two months announced by the General Administration of Customs also showed a downward trend. According to data released by the World Trade Organization in early March, the International Trade Barometer Index dropped by 4 percentage points from the previous index, only 92.2%. The State Council Information Office held a press conference on April 4 to introduce the 133rd China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair). Wang Shouwen, the international trade negotiator and vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the international trade index reflects the unsmooth international demand. According to the questionnaire survey of 15,000 enterprises in the Canton Fair that has been collected, the main difficulties encountered are the decline in orders and insufficient demand. This is consistent with expectations. The foreign trade situation this year is severe and complicated.

Wang Shouwen also pointed out that we must also see the competitiveness, resilience and advantages of China's foreign trade. First, the recovery of China's economy this year will provide impetus to foreign trade. China's PMI Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index has been above the boom-bust line for three consecutive months. my country's logistics index has been rising for two consecutive months, reaching 55.5% last month. The recovery of the domestic economy has a traction on the demand for imported products. The recovery of the domestic economy has provided a boost to product exports.

Second, more than 40 years of open innovation have enabled foreign trade companies to form some new advantages and new momentum. For example, the green and new energy industry is now showing relatively good competitiveness. We have created relatively good market access by signing free trade agreements with neighboring countries. The growth rate of cross-border e-commerce is faster than that of offline trade, and the process of digitalization of trade is also constantly improving, which also provides new competitive advantages for foreign trade.

Third, the trade environment is becoming increasingly optimized. This year, transportation problems have been greatly eased, and shipping prices have dropped significantly. Civil aviation is recovering, and there are belly compartments under passenger flights, which can bring a lot of transportation capacity. Business exchanges are also more convenient, which shows that our trade environment is being optimized. Some surveys have also been conducted recently, and now orders in some provinces are showing a gradual pick-up trend.