since the end of November 2009, a 30 second advertisement from China’s Ministry of Commerce has been broadcast frequently on CNN and other global mainstream media. The reason why this advertisement with the theme of “made in China, world cooperation” came out is that since the beginning of this year, China’s foreign trade and export are facing a more severe situation than ever before. 1n the first three quarters of this year alone, 19 countries launched 88 trade remedy investigations on Chinese products, involving a total of US $10.2 billion, an increase of 125% over the same period last year. Under the background of double-digit decline in exports this year, how to break through the barriers of protectionism in China’s foreign trade in 2010 has become a major issue in front of foreign traders
in 2009, China’s economy driven by export and investment has suffered a huge setback; This year, some foreign trade enterprises fell from heaven to hell. At the beginning of the year, the news about the collapse of foreign trade enterprises was constantly coming from the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Some Chinese businessmen who have been making clothes and toys for European and American customers for more than ten years are obviously not fully prepared for the rapidly changing economic situation. For a while, “shutdown” and “layoff” have become the common words used by the media when reporting the foreign trade situation. The Ministry of Commerce, the Academy of Social Sciences, the National Research Center and other competent departments and high-level think tanks are going south one after another, trying to find the root of the crisis and explore good strategies to get out of the predicament
it turns out that in the past 30 years, the growth of export seems to be flourishing, but it has already laid a hidden danger for today’s predicament – “made in China” has always been at the low end of the industrial chain, with weak competitiveness, low added value, no own brand and lack of overseas marketing channels, No pricing power… This series of disadvantages determine that our export efficiency is not even as good as that of Japan and South Korea in the 1990s. 1t is also in this year that the foreign trade industry deeply realized that the huge export scale can not support a trade power
recently, the 2009 central economic work conference clearly pointed out that we should “improve the quality, added value and competitiveness of export products”. This shows that the central government is looking at foreign trade from a strategic perspective. 1n the past, foreign trade enterprises that only focused on orders began to gradually cultivate their own brands, and powerful enterprises even took their products abroad by means of overseas investment
this year, taking advantage of the “sell-off” opportunity of the parent company in the crisis, Tengzhong Heavy 1ndustries, a Sichuan enterprise, acquired Hummer and Geely, a Zhejiang private enterprise, reached an agreement to acquire Volvo. 1t may become a trend for enterprises to acquire technology by acquiring brands. 1n order to provide sufficient information for enterprises, the Ministry of Commerce has also gathered the strength of Chinese embassies in various countries to launch the guide to foreign investment cooperation countries (regions) this year. Now, the Chinese government and the world bank are discussing building industrial zones and low-cost factories in Africa. 1n this way, for foreign trade enterprises, 2009 may not be doomed to be a tragic year. Opportunities in crisis will also be given to people with courage and wisdom
in this year, under the background of unprecedented trade protectionism “encirclement and suppression” of China’s export enterprises, the government also changed its low-key in the past and sacrificed the banner of trade countermeasures. On the evening of September 11, the U.S. government announced that it would take special safeguard measures for China’s tire products exported to the U.S. only two days later, China’s Ministry of commerce immediately launched the anti-dumping and countervailing investigation procedures for some U.S. automobile and broiler products. Not long ago, an ad that has been brewing for a long time came into the vision of trading partners. 1t tried to break the impression that Chinese products are seizing the market and spread the global concept of “made in China, world cooperation”
sailing in the hurricane of the financial crisis, free trade has become the first victim. At this time, the primary task of each country is to stabilize its economy and keep the jobs of its workers. China’s trade policy has also received the widest support, and behind this support is the Chinese government’s increasingly strong voice in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations
export has contributed to China’s economic growth in the past 30 years. Although its recovery is a bit faltering and can’t keep up with the pace of GDP, we can’t give it up at the most difficult time. 1n the cold weather at the end of the year, if there is anything to be gratified by foreign traders, it is the stability of RMB exchange rate and the increase of export tax rebate. However, marketization is the meaning of the global economy, and policies can not always escort enterprises. On the one hand, experts suggest financial support for foreign trade, on the other hand, they cry out on various occasions that “enterprises must practice their internal skills well, and can’t wait to rely on them.”
2009 is the most severe year for China’s foreign trade; However, 2010 may be the first year of foreign trade structure adjustment