East China’s Jiangsu province recorded 2.48 trillion yuan in total import and export value in the first half of the year, further enhancing new momentum for foreign trade development. Since the beginning of this year, facing the severe situation of insufficient external demand and pressure on foreign trade, Jiangsu has expanded its export of innovative products, vigorously developed new formats and models, and accelerated the exploration of emerging markets.
Changzhou-based Jiangsu Weilan New Energy Battery Co., Ltd. has kept machines running at high speed, and workers are rushing to produce a batch of battery orders for sale in foreign markets.
The new type of lithium battery produced by this company has a smaller size, longer battery life, and higher safety compared with traditional battery products. The new lithium battery has quickly gained popularity among overseas customers since it was sold in the market in April, and the company's orders have been scheduled for two months later. With the assistance of new products, the company doubled its export sales in the first half of the year.
“In the first half of the year, the overseas business of our company's solid-state battery accounted for at least 40% to 50% of the overall sales, and the number of overseas orders issued was more than 10 million yuan”, Su Bing, Senior Sales Manager of Jiangsu Weilan New Energy Battery Co., Ltd., said.
In the context of global industrial upgrading and transformation and net zero carbon emissions, solar cells, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles are gradually becoming new driving forces for foreign trade growth by replacing traditional export products such as clothing, home appliances, and furniture.
Statistics show that in the first half of the year, Jiangsu recorded a 29.6% increase in exports of solar cells, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles, ranking first in the country.
The upgrading of export products has benefited from Jiangsu's early planning in the new energy industry. So far, Jiangsu has basically established a complete industrial and supply chain system to meet the raw materials and components required for the production of solar cells, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles.
Jiangsu recorded 53.47 billion yuan, 47.5 billion yuan, and 4.39 billion yuan in exports of solar cells, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles, with growth rates of 4.8%, 60.9%, and 481%, respectively.
“The new energy industry chain is extremely rich, and this industrial foundation can provide us with a lot of convenience for conducting business,” said Wu Wenqiang, General Manager of Changzhou Qianfeng New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.
“In view of the requirements of new energy product export on dangerous goods transportation packaging, we customized the "declaration, inspection, release" full process export service pack to smooth the international logistics channel and create a safer and more convenient customs clearance environment for new energy export,” Li Zhe, Deputy Director of Changzhou Customs, said.
Faced with weak global market demand, since the beginning of this year, Jiangsu has launched a series of favorable policies for enterprises, including the "Several Measures to Promote Stable Scale and Optimal Structure of Foreign Trade" and the 29 measures taken by Nanjing Customs to optimize the business environment so as to fully help foreign trade enterprises stabilize orders and expand the market with practical measures.
“We provide at least 50% of the booth fee subsidy for enterprises participating in exhibitions through special funds for business development. For enterprises below $3 million, we provide free export credit insurance policies to support and encourage them to go global with more confidence,” said Yuan Chenji, Deputy Chief of Foreign Trade Section of Bureau of Commerce, Tianning District, Changzhou.
In June this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership came into force for 15 signatories, and the third round of negotiations on the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 was held, bringing new opportunities for Jiangsu's foreign trade enterprises to explore diversified markets. Commerce and customs seized the opportunities to carry out policy lectures and give on-site answers, helping enterprises make good use of policies and enjoy policy dividends.
“Our company used to enjoy only 5% tariff when exporting to Indonesia and other countries. Now the RCEP certificate of origin has directly reduced our tariff to zero, saving 300000 US dollars in tariff compared with previous exports, which is more helpful for our company to explore the Southeast Asian market, so the business volume this year has increased significantly,” said Ji Yongbin, General Manager Assistant of Zhangjiagang Yihua Rundong New Materials Co., Ltd.
In the first half of this year, Jiangsu recorded 724.23 billion yuan of import and export to countries along "the Belt and Road", up 6.1% from a year ago. The province also recorded 182.93 billion yuan, 113.51 billion yuan, and 75.29 billion yuan in imports and exports with Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, up 6.5%, 13.8%, and 7.4% year-on-year.
“Against the backdrop of significant external demand pressure on exports, in the first half of the year, Jiangsu was under pressure in its foreign trade. It is not easy to achieve such achievements, which further highlighted the new achievements of optimizing and upgrading the province's foreign trade structure, and provided strong support for the province to achieve stability and quality improvement in foreign trade in an increasingly complex external environment,” Yu Jinping, Vice Dean and Professor of Nanjing University Business School, said.
