From January to August this year, the value of Sichuan's foreign trade
in goods reached 650.17 billion yuan, making the province rank eighth in
China, with an increase of 11.8% over the same period last year,
according to the data released by Chengdu Customs District, P. R. China
on September 11. Specifically, the exports reached 390.93 billion yuan,
up 15.8% year-on-year, and the imports totaled 259.24 billion yuan, up
6.2% year-on-year. During the same period, China's imports and exports
increased by 10.1%.
Since the beginning of summer this year, Sichuan has been adversely
affected by power rationing due to high temperatures and a resurgence of
COVID-19 cases in many places in China. How should we see that in the
first eight months, Sichuan's foreign trade increased by 11.8%
year-on-year?
Data shows decline in foreign trade with the U.S. and the E.U. but rapid growth in that with ASEAN and South Korea
"In the first eight months of this year, the United States, ASEAN, the
European Union and South Korea were Sichuan's four largest trading
partners, with whom the value of foreign trade accounted for 61.1% of
Sichuan's total. It can be said that these four markets played a key
role in Sichuan's foreign trade," said Pan Xudong, Director of the
Statistical Analysis Division of Chengdu Customs District.
According to the data, Sichuan's trade with the United States and the
European Union reached 125.51 billion yuan, down 5.5% year-on-year, and
109.02 billion yuan, down 0.3% year-on-year, respectively. At the same
time, Sichuan's trade with ASEAN and South Korea amounted to 121.76
billion yuan, up 13.8% year-on-year, and 40.91 billion yuan, up 28.5%
year-on-year, respectively. In addition, Sichuan's trade with countries
(regions) along the Belt and Road reached 203.54 billion yuan, a
year-on-year increase of 17.3%.
"It can be seen from the data that the markets of countries (regions)
along the Belt and Road continue to become important growth points of
Sichuan's foreign trade. At the same time, the implementation of the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have further deepened
the economic and trade exchanges between Sichuan and relevant countries
(regions)," said Pan.
What other important signals did Sichuan's foreign trade release in the
first eight months? According to the analysis data, on the one hand, the
proportion of Sichuan's processing trade continued to decline. In the
first eight months, Sichuan's processing trade reached 314.98 billion
yuan, down 6.0% year-on-year. The amount accounted for 48.4% of
Sichuan's total trade value in the same period, down 9.2 percentage
points from the same period last year. On the other hand, Sichuan's
general trade continued to grow. In the first eight months, Sichuan's
general trade value reached 211.09 billion yuan, up 53.3%. The amount
accounted for 32.5% of Sichuan's total trade value in the same period,
an increase of 8.8 percentage points over the same period of the
previous year. In addition, although Sichuan's bonded logistic trade
accounts for a small proportion, it has still achieved rapid
development. Pan said that the changes in Sichuan's foreign trade
structure indicate that the structure has been continuously optimized
with mitigated dependence on the processing trade.
It is also worth noting that private enterprises have become the main
driving force for Sichuan's foreign trade growth. In the first eight
months, the import and export value of private enterprises was 210.09
billion yuan, up 44.3% year-on-year. The amount accounted for 32.3% of
Sichuan's total trade value in the same period, driving Sichuan's
foreign trade to grow by 11.1 percentage points.
"It has to be mentioned that Chengdu still maintains its leading
position, and Yibin, Deyang and other cities have also achieved rapid
growth," Pan said that in the first eight months, Chengdu's total import
and export volume was 547.07 billion yuan, up 7.1% year-on-year. The
amount accounted for 84.1% of Sichuan's total foreign trade value in the
same period. Chengdu still remained a leader, but its proportion in
Sichuan's foreign trade decreased by 3.7 percentage points compared with
the same period last year. The growth rates of Yibin and Deyang reached
52.0% and 57.1% respectively.
In response to the high temperatures and COVID-19 cases, Sichuans trade still achieves a year-on-year increase in August
"Although Sichuan suffered from adverse effects of high temperatures,
drought and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in August, the import and
export volume still reached 85.04 billion yuan, up 6.6% year-on-year.
The basic trend of steady trade growth with a sound momentum remains
unchanged," analyzed the head of the Foreign Trade Operation Division of
Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce.
The analysis is consistent with Chengdu Customs District's statistical
data in the past three months. In June, Sichuan's trade in goods was
83.15 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. In July, the
amount was 86.8 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. In
August, the amount dropped slightly compared with last month, but the
year-on-year increase was further expanded.
In order to fully stabilize foreign trade, multiple departments in
Sichuan Province have made concerted efforts. They have given priority
to guaranteeing the production for foreign trade orders, high-value
orders, key equipment and key customers, and actively guided enterprises
to accelerate the progress through staggered production, establish
"COVID-19 bubbles" and realize closed-loop production. At the same time,
they have continued to innovate types of foreign trade to support the
healthy development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Sichuan Machinery Import & Export Co., Ltd. is engaged in the export
of machine tool products to European and American markets. The
company's export orders account for more than 90% of its total.
"Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, high temperatures and other factors,
orders have dropped by about a quarter in 2022." The person in charge
of the company told that in order to expand the market and stabilize the
orders, the company actively went global by visiting customers and
participating in exhibitions in European and American markets, and the
factory speeded up the progress through off-peak production at night and
self-purchased generators. "Going global alone is expected to bring in
orders of more than 6 million U.S. dollars," said the person in charge.
Moreover, Sichuan has supported the development of small and
medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in various ways. A few days ago,
Chengdu launched the transport for an order with small commodities worth
470,000 yuan, which was the first of procurement trade in Sichuan
market under the Transport International Router (TIR) system. "It is the
first time that the procurement trade in Sichuan market adopts this
mode to transport goods to Europe. For the export of micro-, small and
medium-sized enterprises, there are more channel options." The head of
Chengdu Zhongsiji International Trade Co., Ltd. said that the market
procurement trade is of great significance to the "going global" of
small commodities due to its advantages of entities in a wider scope,
faster export customs clearance, more favorable tax policy and more
flexible foreign exchange management. Without unpacking for check and
other formalities, the export of goods to Europe under the TIR system
can reduce the transport time and cost by 40% and 30% respectively.
In order to reduce the burden on enterprises and make foreign trade
smoother, Chengdu has successively coordinated and solved nearly 1,200
problems in the production and operation of foreign trade enterprises
and import and export customs clearance in the past two months. It has
provided nearly 6,800 services to enterprises, coordinated and satisfied
150 enterprise needs by "giving policies, finance, scenarios and
space", and thus ensured the healthy development of foreign trade
enterprises. While doing a good job in regular epidemic prevention and
control, Yibin has provided satisfactory services for foreign trade
enterprises to ensure the normal production and operation of them. In
the first eight months of this year, the total import and export value
of the lithium battery industry in Yibin was 3.671 billion yuan, with a
year-on-year increase of 91.59%. In particular, the imports and exports
of Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Co., Ltd., a key enterprise, increased
by 991.59% year-on-year in the same period.