Cctv newsThe State Council Press Office held a press conference on 26th to introduce the recent data and policies on production, consumption, import and export. Guo Tingting, Vice Minister of Commerce, said at the meeting that at present, the Ministry of Commerce is working hard to study a new round of policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade in accordance with the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the deployment of the Government Work Report, and strive to put them into effect as soon as possible, fully consolidate the basic foreign trade and foreign investment, and strive to accomplish the annual objectives and tasks.
Guo Tingting introduced that in the first two months, China’s import and export of goods made a good start. Vertically, it continued the growth trend since October last year, and the scale reached a new high in the same period of history. Especially in terms of quantity, the quantity of exported and imported goods increased by 20.2% and 6.2% respectively compared with the same period of last year, which is a real increase in trade volume, indicating that the exchange of goods is very active. Horizontally, WTO Director-General Ivera said recently that the growth rate of global trade in 2024 may be less than the previous forecast of 3.3%. Recently, some countries have published the foreign trade data of the first two months, some of which have declined and some have increased slightly. By contrast, China’s foreign trade performance is generally better.
She said that from the structural point of view, more positive signs can be seen. For example, the import and export of private enterprises have grown rapidly, accounting for more than half of China’s total foreign trade; Mechanical and electrical products show strong competitiveness and exports maintain rapid growth; The "Belt and Road" trade cooperation is closer, and the growth rate of imports and exports of countries that have jointly built the "Belt and Road" is higher than the overall level.
Guo Tingting emphasized that all these positive factors fully reflect that China has a good foreign trade foundation, strong resilience and full vitality. We have more than 600,000 foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance, of which private enterprises account for more than 80%. These enterprises have grown up in the international market and their competitiveness has been continuously improved. We have a complete industrial system and strong production capacity, and many high-quality products are widely welcomed internationally. We have all kinds of new formats and models that are developing vigorously, providing "new kinetic energy" for the development of foreign trade. Looking forward to the whole year, we should say that we are confident and confident in stabilizing foreign trade.
Guo Tingting believes that at the same time, the external situation facing China’s foreign trade is still very grim. The recovery of external demand is still unstable, and many international organizations predict that the global economic growth rate will be lower than the historical average in 2024. The World Bank predicts that the growth rate of global trade is only half of the average growth rate in the 10 years before the epidemic. Risk factors are also increasing, and geopolitical conflicts and "super election year" all bring more variables. Trade restrictions are also increasing, and protectionism and unilateralism are escalating, which seriously interferes with the stable operation of the global industrial chain supply chain and brings interference and obstacles to foreign trade enterprises to explore the international market.
"In 2024, to promote the steady growth of foreign trade quality requires us to overcome difficulties and make more efforts." Guo Tingting said that at present, the Ministry of Commerce is studying a new round of policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade in accordance with the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the deployment of the "Government Work Report", striving to be implemented as soon as possible, making every effort to consolidate the basic disk of foreign trade and foreign investment, and striving to accomplish the annual objectives and tasks.
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