China setting example for getting back to business after pandemic

At a time when global trade is being hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, China has demonstrated its strength to the world economy by recovering stability.

Different industries face different situations in terms of the degree of recovery in the export market, the shift of consumer preferences and the changes in trade policies.

In the first three quarters of this year, the decline for China’s export of agriculture products has been narrowed and the export markets showed a trend of differentiation. The export volume of Japan, South Korea, and the European Union declined, the market in the United States slightly increased, and the growth in the ASEAN and GCC markets witnessed an annual growth of more than 8 percentage points. 

Convenience food, health food and pet food have become the highlights of the “home economy” in the pandemic, and the export value of garlic, tea and dried nuts is more than $1 billion.

To promote the dual cycles of domestic and foreign trade,the China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, or the CFNA, has created a new model for the high-quality development of agricultural products, made efforts to consolidate the foundation for industrial development, formulated various technical standards, strengthened innovation and built online display and trading platforms.

To explore the live broadcast base model, the CFNA is helping companies achieve digital transformation. 

The CFNA and the Anhui Food Import and Export Association plan to build a live broadcast platform to serve more than 70 foreign trade bases and companies in national agricultural products. 

In the second quarter of this year, the country’s cumulative exports of textiles and garments increased by 19.2 percent year-on-year, in which the total exports of traditional bulk commodity yarns, fabrics and woven garments, except for anti-epidemic materials, fell by 28.5 percent year-on-year. 

In July, the rebound in the external market drove the decline in exports of these products to narrow to 10 percent year-on-year. 

Large textile companies said orders have begun to resume, and their production and exports have gradually returned to the right track. But at the same time, as importers put forward new requirements for payment terms and methods, uncertainty has become the main reason for China’s foreign trade companies in textiles to take orders when the global pandemic has not yet fully eased.

The China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Textiles predicts that if the global pandemic is relieved before the end of the year, exports in the fourth quarter will continue to stabilize and the overall trend will improve.

In the first seven months of this year, both export and import of minerals and chemicals have fallen sharply and the situation is grim.

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters believes the epidemic has led to a shrinking global demand and orders are not optimistic. 

But as the pandemic in China has been effectively controlled first and resumption of work and production has accelerated, the industry has shown some positive signals, such as the return in export orders.