Policies to expand foreign trade will give competitiveness a boost

As external demand and supportive policies improve, China's trade in goods reached a new high in the first half of 2024, with overall foreign trade exceeding 21 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion), and export growth in June of 10.7 percent year-on-year, exceeding all expectations.

The improving external demand and accelerated development of new business forms will continue to support China's import and export.

More important, China's recovering foreign trade, featured as steady growth in quantity and significant improvement in quality, will ensure the integrity and stability of the global industry and supply chains.

China's exports have risen from 64.6 percent of its foreign trade in 2023 to 65 percent in the first half of this year, reflecting the potential of its export industries. The country's trade partners have become more diversified, with the share of emerging markets in its exports increasing to 55.3 percent in 2023. In the first half of this year, imports and exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 10.03 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate exceeding China's overall export growth rate by 1.1 percentage points, showing an ever-closer trade exchange between China and these countries.

At the same time, in the first half of the year, imports and exports of private enterprises accounted for 55 percent of the country's total foreign trade, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the same period last year, and their exports accounted for 64.9 percent of the country's total exports.

China's foreign trade is seeing stable growth, its foreign trade enterprises having a resilient production system and capacity, its new forms of business having a strong momentum, its export market diversification steadily advancing, and its export enterprises' anti-risk ability having significantly improved.

Many of China's export products occupy a dominant position in the international market, and China's manufacturing in various fields enjoys competitiveness. With the transformation of "made in China" into "created in China", China's new export growth points will continue to emerge and the cultivation of new growth drivers for foreign trade will be accelerated.

A series of policies introduced by China to stabilize orders for foreign trade enterprises and expand the foreign trade market will further promote and stabilize the international competitiveness of its foreign trade sector. The country should well implement the adopted policies, strengthen the policy reserve according to the new situation and new tasks, and help foreign trade enterprises reduce costs, increase efficiency, and enhance competitiveness.