18 measures to accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade

Help enterprises smoothly switch between the two markets (policy interpretation)

The General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Several Measures on Accelerating the Integrated Development of Domestic and Foreign Trade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), proposing 18 measures in 5 aspects, requiring all localities and relevant departments to actively promote the implementation of various policies and measures and overcome obstacles. The key blocking point in the integration of domestic and foreign trade helps enterprises to smoothly switch between domestic and international markets and achieve "two legs".

Experts said that accelerating the construction of integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an intrinsic requirement for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development, and plays an important role in promoting economic development, expanding domestic demand, and stabilizing enterprises. All localities should support advantageous industries to continue to explore international markets, expand and enrich the functions of various platforms, and provide favorable conditions for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade.

Promote the smooth flow of domestic and foreign trade resource elements

In the middle of winter, the terminals of Wuxi Port in Jiangsu remain busy. As a barge named "Xiji No. 7" of Wuxi Suhua Shipping Co., Ltd. set sail, 30 containers carrying domestic and foreign trade goods sailed to Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port.

"Domestic and foreign trade goods have different properties and need to be carried by different ships. The warehouse utilization rate is low. Too many orders will cause the company's transportation capacity to be tight. With the help of Wuxi Customs, which is affiliated to Nanjing Customs, the company has improved a series of procedures such as internal control and filing. After opening the same ship for domestic and foreign trade, the barge frequency has been changed from three times a week to every day. The density of voyages has increased, the barge transportation time has been shortened by more than one day, and customer logistics costs have been lowered." said Hou Jialin, general manager of Wuxi Suhua Shipping Co., Ltd.

The "Measures" propose that efforts should be made to eliminate various forms of local protection and market segmentation, accelerate the construction of a unified national market, and promote the smooth flow of domestic and foreign trade resource elements. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce stated that it is necessary to support foreign trade companies to expand the domestic market and domestic trade companies to expand the international market. Through continuous docking and integration, enterprises can adapt to different standard rules and achieve "two legs" walking. Improve systems and mechanisms, build common platforms, optimize public services, and enhance the development capabilities of enterprises integrating domestic and foreign trade.

The "Measures" propose to promote the docking of domestic and foreign trade market channels. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs said that relevant localities and departments should strengthen publicity and business training on new foreign trade formats and new models and related policies, promote the connection of domestic and foreign trade market channels, and support domestic trade enterprises to use cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade and other methods to develop international market.

"Making good use of two markets and two resources can help companies better respond to market risks and expand development space." The relevant person in charge of Jiangsu Wuxi Vance Home Technology Co., Ltd. said that as a modern home textile and household products company, under the guidance of the customs Under the guidance and cultivation, the "old three" enterprises have successfully "connected to the Internet and upgraded". From January to November 2023, the company's B2B export value exceeded 16 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Optimize the integrated development environment for domestic and foreign trade

Recently, 77 TEUs of softwood pulp weighing 1,966 tons were transferred from Yangshan Port in Shanghai to Qingdao Port in the "coastal piggyback" mode on board a foreign cargo ship of Maersk Line. According to statistics, in the first 11 months of 2023, Yangshan Customs, a subsidiary of Shanghai Customs, has supervised and served the "coastal piggybacking" business of foreign-owned liner services exceeding 58,000 TEUs.

As a powerful measure for the reform of integrated domestic and foreign trade, the "coastal piggybacking" business of foreign-invested liner companies will be the first to be piloted at Shanghai Yangshan Port in May 2022. According to Maersk Line, after adopting the "coastal piggybacking" model, the time in transit for goods can be reduced by 7 to 20 days. At present, the company has 66 ships and 4 routes carrying out this business, and plans to gradually transfer some goods transited from Singapore, Busan, South Korea and other places to Shanghai for transit.

The "Measures" propose to strengthen cross-border transportation cooperation with overseas ports and encourage shipping companies to expand the scope of cross-border transportation of domestic and foreign trade goods based on market-oriented principles. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs said that whether domestic trade companies "go global" or foreign trade companies "switch to domestic sales", they all need good channel platforms and targeted measures. It is necessary to actively support the accelerated development of rail-water combined transport at coastal and inland ports, support qualified enterprises to carry out domestic and foreign trade container transportation on the same ship, improve logistics convenience, and create a good development environment for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade.

Not long ago, the first batch of "rail-water multimodal transport" transit cargo in Shanghai Port was successfully shipped from the Phase 4 Terminal of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area. This batch of more than 300 tons of zinc ingots from Kazakhstan was transported from Alashankou to Lianyungang Port on the China-Europe freight train. After being loaded into shipping containers, it was transported to Shanghai via the "Lianshen Express", an inter-port express line connecting Lianyungang Port to Shanghai Port. From the Waigaoqiao Port Area, ships will be transferred to international routes to be shipped to Laem Chabang Port in Thailand.

Relevant departments in Shanghai have strengthened port cross-border transportation cooperation, achieved efficient integration of railways, ports, inland rivers and other resources, railways and waterways, improved internal and external logistics networks, and provided enterprises with more cost-effective transportation methods, routes and multimodal transport products.

Increase reform and innovation in key areas

Recently, after completing customs clearance procedures, the leg main chords produced by Shandong Yantai Tiezhongbao Steel Processing Co., Ltd. were successfully shipped and exported to overseas markets.

"Although previous products were exported overseas as parts and components along with drilling platforms, special ships, etc., when we tried to carry out foreign trade business independently, we found that it was still not easy." Qu Xiaoqun, deputy general manager of the company, said that in order to go As the "first step" to stabilize exports, companies choose to start with processing trade. Yantai Customs, a subsidiary of Qingdao Customs, understands the company's raw material import plan in advance to ensure the rapid inspection and release of the company's imported equipment and materials. At the same time, it guides the company to apply for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) certificate of origin, reduce or reduce tariffs on imported raw materials, and reduce production costs. In the first 11 months of 2023, the total import and export value of enterprises exceeded 700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 times.

The "Measures" propose to promote high-quality implementation of free trade agreements such as RCEP and expand the international development space of enterprises. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs said that efforts should be made to promote the connection of domestic and foreign trade market channels, continue to promote the high-quality development of processing trade, implement comprehensive reform measures for cross-border e-commerce customs supervision, and support the development of new business formats such as market procurement and bonded maintenance.

As an economic functional zone that attaches equal importance to both internal and external openness, the Comprehensive Bonded Zone plays an important role in smoothing the domestic and international dual circulation and accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The "Measures" propose to give better play to the demonstration and leading role of open platforms such as free trade pilot zones, national new zones, national economic and technological development zones, and comprehensive bonded zones, and encourage greater reform and innovation related to the integration of domestic and foreign trade.

In the production workshop of Riyuexin Semiconductor (Weihai) Co., Ltd. in the Weihai Comprehensive Bonded Zone in Shandong Province, the processed transistors walked off the production line, were immediately packed in boxes, and sent to domestic new energy vehicle manufacturing companies according to the "entrusted processing" model. In 2023, the company's import and export value under the "entrusted processing" model will exceed 2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 40%.

In recent years, with the changes in domestic and foreign markets, enterprises in the Comprehensive Bonded Zone hope to use their remaining production capacity and undertake domestic production. The General Administration of Customs issued the "Announcement on Supporting Enterprises in Comprehensive Bonded Zones to Undertake Entrusted Processing Businesses from Domestic (Outside) Enterprises" to provide convenience for enterprises to utilize domestic and foreign production resources and expand both international and domestic markets.

Experts said that all localities and departments must take multiple measures, strengthen coordination, accelerate innovation, continue to promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade rules and systems, serve the docking of domestic and foreign trade market channels, optimize the integrated development environment of domestic and foreign trade, and accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade in key areas. Help enterprises deeply explore the domestic market, explore international markets, and promote foreign trade to improve the quality and efficiency. (Reporter Du Haitao and Luo Shanshan)