When China became the world's largest trader of goods, related industries reviewed and looked forward to their own development, and described the new future of “Made in China”. For more than 30 years, the development of foreign trade has been astonishing and its achievements are rare. In many industries, the number of export categories varies from low to high, the level of technology from low to high, and the market competitiveness from weak to strong. The overall product structure, industry level, and even the marketing perspective of the company have undergone fundamental changes.

Light Industry Foreign Trade Development

"Since the reform and opening up, China's light industry handicraft industry has seen tremendous development and improvement in its overall scale and level, and it has become a major producer and exporter of light industry handicrafts. Data show that the total import and export volume of China's light industry handicrafts industry was 622.8 in 1996. Billion US dollars, this figure has reached US$75.57 billion in 2013, which is a 12-fold increase from 1996. Say.

According to him, over the past 35 years, while light industry has seen a significant increase in imports and exports, the level of trade development has also continued to increase. China's light industry arts and crafts trade has achieved an important transformation from processing trade to general trade; private enterprises have replaced the three foreign-funded enterprises to become the main force of China's light industrial products exports; the mid-western region has achieved leapfrog development and become a new export The growth point; the export market is increasingly diversified and the international status is rapidly increasing; at the same time, the construction of export commodity bases has become a powerful measure to accelerate the transformation of foreign trade development methods. More and more light industry players have begun to develop their own brands. “Light industrial arts and crafts as an important part of household daily-use consumer goods, the rigid demand in the international market is very stable. Although affected by the impact of the international economic situation will appear certain fluctuations, but China's total exports of light industry crafts will still maintain a certain period of time 10 The annual growth rate is about %,” predicted Chen Jiangfeng. He also said that the next step in the development of foreign trade in light industry will have the following characteristics:

First, the high-speed development phase of bulk light goods export commodities has basically come to an end. Affected by the rapid rise in China’s overall costs, it is difficult to reproduce the situation of relying on cost advantages to quickly occupy the international market. “This will also force companies to accelerate product upgrades and industrial transformation, and the export of light industrial products will change from quantity wins to quality wins. But as simple labor-intensive products will gradually shift to Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions, it may also affect The number of countries in the international market."

Second, the gradual formation of regional economic integration (TPP, TTIP, etc.) will have a major impact on the export of China's light industrial products. Therefore, China's light industry will actively seek to transfer abroad. At the same time, exporting products with foreign direct investment will become an important way for the industry leading international companies.

Third, the trend of trade diversification becomes more apparent. Emerging developing countries will become the main growth point for the development of foreign trade in light industry. China’s share of the traditional trade market is weak, and it will gradually transition from the low-end market to the mid- to high-end market while maintaining a considerable share of the market, and increase export prices by increasing product prices.

Fourth, trade disputes and trade remedy measures facing the export of light industrial products will continue to increase. In particular, disputes over the protection of intellectual property related to patents will become new features.

The traditional industry is blooming

The textile industry has always occupied a very important position in China's foreign trade. This is not only because in the wave of reform and opening up and the welcoming of international industry transfer, textile industry has become a representative of China’s productivity comparative advantage due to its own industry characteristics, but also after the strategy of transformation and upgrading and the cultivation of new advantages in foreign trade competition, the textile industry is in technological innovation, Achievements in industrial integration and brand building are enough to speak for themselves.

According to statistics of the World Trade Organization (WTO), since 1994, China has maintained its position as the number one global textile and apparel exporter for 18 years in a row. Currently, it has accounted for one-third of the global market share and has three major consumptions in the EU, the United States, and Japan. In the market, China is the largest supplier of textile and apparel products. However, in recent years, due to rising costs of China's textile and garment production factors, buyers from Europe, the United States, Japan, and other places have begun to transfer orders to countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia in a planned and systematic manner.

At the symposium on "Transferring Power from Great Trade Country to Trade Power" held on March 3rd, the China Textile Import & Export Chamber of Commerce Changhui Hui expressed that "the comprehensive competitiveness of China's textile and clothing industry still ranks first in the world, and its short- and medium-term status It's hard to shake."

Jiang Hui’s argument comes from the exciting changes that have taken place in the textile industry in these years.

With more than 30 years of trade development, the Chinese textile industry not only has a leap-like performance in the production and processing capabilities of fabrics and accessories, but also can export a variety of high-end, high-value-added, high-demand textile and apparel products, and the vast majority of textiles Apparel export products all use general trade methods, and processing trade has been significantly reduced. According to the statistics of China Customs, in 1995, the proportion of general textile and apparel trade exports accounted for 56.6%, and processing trade accounted for 43.3%; by 2013, the proportion of general trade was as high as 75.4%, and processing trade was only 14.7%.

Driven by large-scale group companies such as Ningbo Shenzhou and Jiangsu Dongdu, in recent years, Chinese textile companies have started to raise funds in overseas capital markets and set up order centers; they have increased investment in R&D in China and cultivated new growth points; Using the labor resources of Southeast Asian countries, taxation, cotton and other differential preferential trade policies, shifting the processing and production of some low value-added garments. Group operation and global resource allocation enabled Chinese textile companies to gain advantages in capital, price, technology and other aspects, accelerate the pace of global distribution, realize the synergy between overseas distribution and domestic industries, and consolidate the share of China's textile industry in the international market. “At present, the brand building of the textile industry is in full swing, foreign designers, talents, and technology are gathering in China, and brand development has entered a period of relatively good development.” Jiang Hui said that China’s textile machinery and equipment automation and intelligent technology are With a higher level of development, the “going out” of self-owned brands and the acquisition of international brands have become new trends in the development of the textile and apparel trade. These will become new labels for the Chinese textile industry.

Confident to continue to lead

China has been the world’s largest exporter of electromechanical products for the fifth consecutive year. In 2013, the total import and export volume of China's machinery and electronic products exceeded US$2 trillion and reached US$2.1 trillion. It has become the world’s largest trading nation of mechanical and electrical products for the fourth consecutive year, an increase of 290 times compared to 1980 (US$7.21 billion). Among them, exports increased from 1.56 billion U.S. dollars to 1.26 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for an increase in the proportion of goods trade exports from 8.6% to 57.0%.

From the 1980s onwards, it mainly focused on the export of primary products such as metal products and machinery and equipment. By 2013, the proportion of high-tech products in mechanical and electrical products exported had reached 50.5%. In more than 30 years, China’s exports of electromechanical products range from fewer to more, The level of technology from low to high, market competitiveness from weak to strong, the overall structure has undergone fundamental changes. The vigorous demand for imports has also played an important role in accelerating the pace of technological transformation of enterprises and promoting the transformation and upgrading of industrial structures.

In the endeavor to become the largest country in the trade in goods, the results of mechanical and electrical products are encouraging.

At present, "China has initially formed a commodity structure with complete categories, distinctive industry characteristics, and high-tech and high value-added products." Wang Guiqing, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said that in particular key industries, China's mechanical and electrical products have become One of the representatives of China's industrial level and manufacturing in China.

For example, China has become the world's largest producer and exporter of electronic information products. The shipments of computers and mobile phones have accounted for more than 70% of the world's total; XCMG, Zoomlion, and Sany Heavy Industry and other construction machinery companies It has entered the top 10 global industry rankings; large stand-alone machines and complete sets of equipment have become the core forces driving Chinese manufacturing “going out” and so on.

In particular, during the past 30 years, the proportion of general trade and processing trade in exports of electromechanical products in China has experienced 55% and 43% from 1985, 23% and 74% in 2001, and 35% and 51% in 2013. This process of development and change shows that China is gradually ridding itself of its dependence on processing trade. Its industrial structure extends to both ends of the global value chain, and its ability to participate in international competition continues to increase.

In addition, the main body of electromechanical trade is gradually diversified. In particular, the proportion of private enterprises’ exports has grown from less than 5% in 2001 to 30% in 2013, and the average annual growth rate of 40.3% has become an important force driving the growth of China’s mechanical and electrical foreign trade. The vast export market, stable channels, and increasingly balanced layout are all welcome changes. "With the recovery of the world economy and the gradual release of a series of policy effectiveness, China's deepening reforms and opening up to the outside world will continue to maintain a relatively stable medium-and-low-speed growth in China's foreign trade in electromechanical products and continue to maintain its leading position in global electromechanical trade in the next 10 years." Wang Guiqing Say.

After leaps and bounds for innovation

"The development of China's foreign trade over the past 35 years of reform and opening up has been extremely alarming and rare." Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that in this process, China's foreign trade has continuously achieved a major leap. “The first leap was in 1988 when China’s import and export volume exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars, and it began to change from a long-term trade deficit to a sustained surplus in 1988. From the long-term shortage of foreign exchange, it became a continuous increase in foreign exchange reserves until the world’s foreign exchange reserves. After two years of accession, China’s imports and exports exceeded trillion U.S. dollars in 2004 and became the third largest trading nation in the world; the third leap was the only one that exceeded 4 trillion yuan in 2013.

Yuan’s country is also the first developing country that has become the world's largest cargo trade country for more than 100 years. ”

As for how China should move from a trading nation to a trading power, Shen Danyang stated that in the face of a profoundly changing world pattern and increasingly fierce international competition, China can only further expand its opening to the outside world, speed up the construction of an open economic new system, and implement the party’s ten The "Big Eight" and the current government work report puts forward the combination of stabilizing exports and expanding imports, promoting the transformation of foreign trade from scale expansion to improvement of quality and efficiency, transforming from cost and price advantages to comprehensive competitive advantages, and promoting the formation of technologies, brands, The strategic deployment of "quality and service-oriented new advantages in export competition" can only be gradually developed into a "strong trade country," and it will be able to better serve the two hundred-year goals and realize the Chinese dream.

Shen Danyang believes that China’s large population, low per-capita share of resources, high employment pressure, and relatively backward technology, development of export trade, participation in international division of labor, and full use of two resources in the two markets have a very important role in the sustainable and healthy development of China’s economy. . "Therefore, in the current sluggish world economy, we must correctly assess the important role of exports in China's economic and social development, combine domestic demand expansion with the stabilization of external demand, and continue to insist on promoting sustained and stable development of export trade."

Second, we must continue to maintain a generally balanced growth of imports and exports. "This balanced growth is not at the expense of exports, but rather through the expansion of imports." Shen Danyang said that we must correctly understand the root causes of the continuous growth of the trade surplus. "The key to resolving the trade surplus is to focus more on expanding imports and rely more on macroeconomic policies than on import theory. Since China's current marginal import tendencies are still relatively obvious, so long as macroeconomic policies are properly applied, In a certain period of time, it can both expand imports and reduce surpluses, and it can also bring positive effects to the national economy."

Again, we must attach great importance to the quality and efficiency of foreign trade. Further promote the “five optimizations” of foreign trade structure, namely, optimizing the layout of the international market, optimizing the domestic regional distribution, optimizing the main body of foreign trade operations, optimizing the structure of export commodities, and optimizing the trade pattern. While consolidating the traditional markets of Europe, the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong, we will increase the proportion of emerging markets and developing countries in foreign trade; while consolidating the scale of foreign trade in the eastern coastal areas, we will increase the proportion of the central and western regions in foreign trade; While developing a variety of ownership enterprises, we will increase the proportion of private enterprises and SMEs in the country's foreign trade. While stabilizing the exports of traditional advantageous products, we will increase the proportion of high-tech products, export brands, and other products in national foreign trade. Strengthen general trade, improve processing trade, and develop other trade methods. The trade pattern based on the free trade zone has been strengthened, and it has actively participated in the formulation of international economic and trade rules, provided a good environment for foreign trade, expanded two-way investment, and promoted the development of foreign trade.

Finally, we must strive to create a new competitive advantage in foreign trade. “The core content of the new competitive advantage in foreign trade is technology, brand, quality, and service. We must strive to promote enterprises to enhance international competitiveness on the one hand, and on the other hand we must strive to create new advantages in the overall foreign trade competitiveness of the country and improve export products. The proportion of innovation factors, creating new comparative advantages and competitive advantages. Shen Danyang said.