Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 11, 2019 Title: 27 places have joined again, how important is the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter
A few days ago, the State Council approved the establishment of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in 27 cities and regions including Ordos. This is the sixth expansion of the pilot area in nearly seven years, and the scope has been extended to 132 cities and regions across the country.
From coastal to inland, why are more than 100 cities and regions scrambling to join the pilot zone?
Promote the domestic and international double circulation, and the prefecture-level cities of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong will be fully covered and tilted towards the central and western regions
On December 20, 2019, at the bonded logistics center of Tangshan Jingtang Port District, the staff of cross-border e-commerce enterprises were sorting out goods. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shiyao
The cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone is a test field for cross-border e-commerce in the mainland. The person in charge of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce said on the 10th that the newly established comprehensive pilot zone will apply cross-border e-commerce retail export taxation, retail import supervision and other policy measures.
At the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, with 27 "new faces" from Ordos, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Jinhua, Ma'anshan, Jingdezhen, Rizhao, Xiangyang, Chaozhou, Baoji, Kashgar and other 27 "new faces" on the list, there are currently 132 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test zones in the mainland, covering 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, forming a development pattern of land and sea linkage at home and abroad, and mutual benefit between east and west.
"Cross-border e-commerce is a new form of foreign trade with the fastest development speed, the greatest potential and the strongest driving effect, and it is still in a period of rapid development." The person in charge of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce said that the establishment of a number of new comprehensive pilot zones is conducive to stimulating the vitality of foreign trade entities, improving the efficiency of foreign trade operations, stabilizing the supply chain of the foreign trade industry chain, and realizing the integration of industrial digitalization and trade digitalization.
Previously, after approving the establishment of the China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone in March 2015, the State Council successively established 105 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in five batches in Tianjin, Shanghai, Suzhou, Luoyang, Nanning, Changsha, Wuhu, Zhanjiang, Mianyang and Yingkou in Five Batches in January 2016, July 2018, December 2019 and April 2020.
According to reports, after the expansion, the comprehensive pilot zone has achieved full coverage of prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. The "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter combed and found that on the basis of covering the cities in the Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region, the new cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area continues to tilt to the central and western cities and regions, and gradually expands to third- and fourth-tier cities.
Knowing that the city has set up a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area, Sun Qing, general manager of Ma'anshan Myron International Trade Co., Ltd., is very hopeful. "We are already interested in relocating warehouses and logistics back locally, saving manpower and off-site management costs. Next, it is planned to open up the international market and improve the cross-border e-commerce operation capabilities. ”
"Gather the spark of the stars to burn the plains." Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the mainland cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area has been gradually expanded from point to surface and from coast to inland, and the spatial distribution is more balanced, which fully reflects the country's desire to use cross-border e-commerce and other new foreign trade formats to further expand opening up, promote domestic and international double circulation, and make every effort to stabilize the basic plate of foreign trade and foreign investment, and promote high-quality trade development.
New breakthrough: gather various service resources, so that enterprises can fully enjoy the convenience dividend
The State Council's reply emphasizes that it is necessary to replicate and promote the mature experience and practices of the first five batches of comprehensive pilot zones. In the past seven years, what new breakthroughs have been made in hundreds of pilot comprehensive pilot zones?
Zhejiang Taipusen Industrial Group Co., Ltd. is a traditional foreign trade enterprise engaged in the production of outdoor leisure products, since entering the cross-border e-commerce market in 2017, the annual sales of cross-border e-commerce business has increased from about 2.6 million US dollars to 80 million US dollars in 2021, and export products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions such as the United States, Europe and Japan.
"In the past, the cost of cross-border e-commerce docking resources for enterprises was very high, and the Hangzhou Comprehensive Test Zone gathered various service resources to solve a series of pain points such as talents, logistics, customs clearance and software services for enterprises." Cao Zhixing, vice president of the company, was deeply touched.
Nowadays, in the national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, cross-border e-commerce companies like Tepsen are increasing. According to the data, at present, there are more than 30,000 cross-border e-commerce-related enterprises in the mainland, and the number of registrations is still growing year by year.
Behind the leapfrog development of enterprises is the efforts of the comprehensive pilot zone to continuously promote industrial transformation and upgrading, in-depth innovation, and first to try.
Ren Hongbin, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, previously said that through the continuous innovation of systems, management and service models in various localities and departments, explore the formation of an important institutional framework, and tailor-made nearly 100 support policies, so that enterprises can enjoy convenience and dividends in logistics, payment, law, taxation, talent and other aspects.
"I felt the real benefits after setting up the comprehensive test area." Wu Fan, head of the Asia-Pacific region of Wuhu Youpai Care Products Technology Co., Ltd., said that 90% of the company's current products are sold overseas in the form of cross-border e-commerce retail. Thanks to the promotion and application of preferential tax policies such as tax rebate facilitation measures, the company's cross-border import and export amount increased from 0.8 billion yuan in 2020 to 130 million yuan in 2021, an increase of 62.5%.
In the view of Zhu Caihua, a professor at the Institute of International Economics of the University of International Business and Economics, as the first comprehensive test area of cross-border e-commerce, Hangzhou has explored a set of top-level design, institutional system and ecological system leading the construction of the national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area, which can not only help other comprehensive test areas to improve efficiency, but also provide a new starting point for the high-quality development of mainland foreign trade.
Merchants & Consumers: Easily Sell Global buy Global
On November 23, 2019, a cross-border e-commerce platform physical store in the incubation area of China Import Commodities City in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, attracted many consumers Xinhua News Agency reporter Tan Jin photographed
The policy dividend of providing convenience and cost saving for cross-border e-commerce enterprises has also benefited the daily life of the people.
"In the past, after purchasing European milk powder, after prepaying the full amount, it took more than half a month or even longer to arrive, and there was often damage, but now through cross-border e-commerce to buy imported products, saving time and effort and saving money." Han Xiaofei, who often visits the brand stores of Jiangsu Hi Purchase Network Technology Co., Ltd., is deeply touched.
Xu Qing, director of Tmall International Public Affairs, believes that a series of facilitation policies in the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area and preferential policies such as value-added tax exemption will not only benefit market entities, but also enhance the consumer experience. "With the vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce, domestic consumers have more choices, faster timeliness and lower prices when buying overseas goods at their doorstep." She said.
Customs data show that in 2021, the import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce in the mainland reached 1.98 trillion yuan, an increase of 15% year-on-year. Among them, the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test area has an obvious driving effect.
Under the background of the global spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the advantages of cross-border e-commerce online marketing, online transactions, and contactless delivery have become more prominent. However, due to the epidemic prevention and control measures of various countries, it is also challenged by multiple factors such as the interruption of international routes, the shortage of global transportation capacity, the rise in transportation costs and the low efficiency of customs clearance.
Experts said that further expanding the scope of the pilot will help promote the cross-border e-commerce industry to seize a new round of growth opportunities, and better cope with the many challenges faced by the development of the industry through replication and promotion experience.
The mainland has become the world's largest country in goods trade and the second largest country in commodity consumption. Zhu Caihua said that the continuous expansion of the comprehensive test area will help accelerate the pace of the mainland's progress from a big trading country to a strong country. The cities selected later should fully combine local resource endowments and development characteristics, increase innovation, and promote the development of new foreign trade formats with higher quality in the norms. (Reporters Zou Duowei, Yu Jiaxin, Zhang Xuan, Dai Wei, Liu Weiwei)
Source: Xinhua Net