Recently, the State Information Office held a press conference. Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and Director of the Statistical Analysis Department, introduced the import and export situation in the first quarter of 2020 and answered questions from reporters. According to data released, the total value of my country's import and export of goods trade in the first quarter of this year was 6.57 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6.4% over the same period last year. Among them, exports were 3.33 trillion yuan, a decrease of 11.4%; imports were 3.24 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.7%; the trade surplus was 98.33 billion yuan, a decrease of 80.6%.

 

 

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The import and export volume of adhesives and coatings in China is not large, and the downstream areas of adhesives and coatings are mainly affected. Among these exported categories, downstream industries closely related to adhesives and coatings all experienced a sharp decline. Among them, luggage, shoes and clothing, furniture, toys, etc. generally fell by about 18%, and home appliances, mobile phones, and mechanical and electrical products fell by about 10%. According to the analysis of customs statistics, the sharp decline of these types of products is related to the reduction of market orders in the main export markets, the United States, the European Union and other places. Among them, exports to the United States in the first quarter of this year were 476.55 billion yuan, a drop of 23.6%.

 

 

Judging from the newly released data, despite the continued spread of the international epidemic, my country's foreign trade development still shows strong resilience, and there are many bright spots under pressure.

 

 

1.3 Significant improvement in foreign trade imports and exports in January

Imports and exports improved in March. With the gradual manifestation of the effect of the policy of stable growth of foreign trade, the export orders that were backlogged due to the delay in resuming work have been delivered successively. In March, my country’s foreign trade imports and exports were 2.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%. From a ten-year perspective, imports and exports have achieved positive growth for two consecutive days in the middle and late March. Among them, the decline in exports narrowed to 3.5% in March, while imports increased by 2.4%. The trade balance has also turned from a deficit in the previous two months to a surplus.

2. Domestic demand promotes better import performance

With the gradual recovery of domestic industrial production and residents’ lives, my country’s strong domestic market potential is gradually released. In the first quarter, the value of my country's imports fell by 0.7%, of which imports increased by 2.4% in March. In particular, driven by the increase in imports of meat and sugar, imports of consumer goods increased by 13% in the first quarter; imports of raw materials such as coal, crude oil, metal ore, and integrated circuits increased by 23.8%, 8.3%, 6.8% and 13.1 respectively. %. my country's strong domestic market contributes to the creation of global total demand.

3. Maintaining growth in imports and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road”

Despite the overall decline in foreign trade imports and exports in the first quarter, my country's foreign trade imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" have maintained growth, which has become an important factor in the stable development of my country's foreign trade. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of this year, my country's imports and exports with countries along the “Belt and Road” reached 2.07 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.2% year-on-year, of which imports and exports to ASEAN and Russia increased by 6.1% and 5.7% respectively.

4. Emerging business formats have maintained rapid growth

In the first quarter, new forms of foreign trade such as my country's cross-border e-commerce continued to develop vigorously. Among them, the import and export through the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform increased by 34.7%, and the export by market procurement method increased by 50.9%.

5. The central and western regions have become an important force for the stable development of foreign trade

In the first quarter, my country's eastern region's foreign trade imports and exports were 5.28 trillion yuan, a decrease of 7.5%, but the central and western regions' foreign trade imports and exports were 1.04 trillion yuan, a decline of only 2.1%, accounting for an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared with the same period last year, reaching 15.9%.

At present, the epidemic is still spreading around the world, especially in developed countries in Europe and the United States, showing a pattern of serious outbreaks. Therefore, import and export trade still faces strong pressure, uncertainty and challenges, and will encounter great resistance. This can be felt from the fact that many companies have lost orders, or the equipment, raw materials, and supporting parts ordered cannot be delivered in the near future. For this year’s import and export trade work, we need to be prepared to live a "hard life" and "fight tough battles", and we need to be prepared to expand into new markets and develop new spaces. In particular, it is necessary to remind relevant enterprises that they must accelerate their transformation and upgrading, increase technological innovation and product research and development, and further adapt to market demand.

Source: Adhesives Online