Since the beginning of this year, a variety of unexpected factors at home and abroad have brought severe challenges to China's foreign trade industry. In February, international turmoil pushed up raw material prices. Since March, the domestic new crown epidemic has occurred frequently in many places, and core foreign trade cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai have ushered in a major examination, and with the further escalation of epidemic prevention and control, some supply chain links have been blocked, from raw material procurement to post-production shipments.
Focusing on the impact of the domestic epidemic on small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises since March, on April 20, XTransfer, a one-stop foreign trade enterprise cross-border financial and risk control service company, and the Commercial Industry Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade jointly released the "March 2022 Export Trade (B2B) Index Report for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" (hereinafter referred to as the "Index Report").
The index report includes the March 2022 China Foreign Trade Exports Leading Index and the March 2022 China SME Foreign Trade Enterprise Competitiveness Index. At the same time, the report specially launched the Shenzhen and Shanghai foreign trade export pilot index to show the export performance of core foreign trade cities under the influence of this round of the epidemic. The index cites representative customer sample data from the same batch in March 2022 and the same period of previous years, and combines the collection performance of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises on the XTransfer platform and the export data of China Customs to reflect the export performance of Chinese small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises under the influence of domestic and foreign unexpected factors, providing important guidance and strategic development basis for the global development of Chinese small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in the second quarter and the whole year of 2022.
It is worth mentioning that in order to give real-time feedback on the impact of the recent epidemic in Shanghai, the Shanghai Foreign Trade Export Leading Index has added the index and analysis from April 1 to April 15, 2022 in addition to the Data for March 2022. At the same time, in order to further analyze the motivation of the index, the report surveyed a number of small and medium-sized micro and small foreign trade enterprises in Shenzhen and Shanghai, and summarized them in the report.
Under the impact of the epidemic, China's foreign trade exports have increased steadily
At present, many unexpected factors have exceeded expectations, but China's foreign trade industry has maintained strong resilience. According to customs statistics, the total import and export value of mainland trade in goods in March was 3.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.8% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 1.75 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.9% year-on-year.
According to the first part of the XTransfer index report, "China's Foreign Trade Export Pilot Index in March 2022", the index as a whole rose steadily in March, showing a more consistent trend compared with the same period last year; the index fluctuations stemmed from the normal cyclical performance of foreign trade receipts, and unexpected factors at home and abroad did not affect the development trend of China's small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in March. The report shows that in March 2022, the collection volume of China's small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises increased by 15.7% year-on-year, an increase of slightly higher than the growth rate of goods trade exports released by the General Administration of Customs in March, which also highlights the strong growth momentum of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. The report predicts that In the second quarter of 2022, China's foreign trade exports are expected to gradually get rid of the impact of unfavorable factors at home and abroad and continue to achieve steady growth.
At the same time, the report specially launched the Shenzhen and Shanghai foreign trade export leading index. In order to quickly control the risk of the spread of the epidemic, Shenzhen carried out a city-wide community closure management from March 14 to 20. The short-term closure did not have a great impact on Shenzhen's small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises, and in March 2022, the collection volume of Shenzhen small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises increased by 18.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was still slightly higher than the overall level of the country.
According to index analysis, after a 7-day closed management starting on March 14, the Shenzhen Foreign Trade Export Pioneer Index quickly corrected after a brief decline and returned to normal levels. The report believes that Shenzhen, as one of the most active foreign trade cities in China, will usher in steady growth in the second quarter.
Since March 28, Shanghai has been "sealing the river" with the Huangpu River as the boundary, and the division has implemented nucleic acid screening in batches. In March 2022, the collection volume of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai increased by 12.2%, which was slightly lower than the overall level of the country. In March, the Shanghai Foreign Trade Export Leading Index did not show a significant decline due to the spread of the epidemic and the upgrading of prevention and control. This is due to the fact that Small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai have a decentralized and flexible supply chain, and some upstream and downstream suppliers of enterprises are spread throughout the country, effectively improving their ability to resist risks.
Since April, as of the date of the report 's release (April 20), Shanghai is still in the difficult stage of overcoming the epidemic. To reflect the impact of the current round of the epidemic on the export trade of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai, the report adds data analysis from April 1, 2022 to April 15, 2022 and the same period in previous years. The analysis shows that the collection volume of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai fell by 1% year-on-year, and due to the further impact of the epidemic, the production and manufacturing, logistics warehousing, and collection card transportation showed uncertainty, which slowed down the collection of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises.
In March, Shanghai's foreign trade export leading index rose steadily, and in the first half of April, it fell slightly. The sudden outbreak of the epidemic has brought a certain degree of crisis and test to Shanghai, an international port city, and the city's foreign trade enterprises. Taking cross-border logistics as an example, the container throughput of Shanghai Port exceeded 47 million TEUs in 2021, an increase of 8% year-on-year, ranking first in the world for 12 consecutive years. However, at present, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, there is a shortage of labor in Shanghai ports and land transportation is blocked, which has brought a certain degree of negative impact to the foreign trade industry.
Under the continuous intrusion of the epidemic, the report believes that in the second quarter of 2022, Shanghai's small and medium-sized micro and small foreign trade enterprises will be under short-term pressure, and after the obvious progress in epidemic prevention and control, the index is expected to rebound.
Under the complex domestic and foreign situation, small and medium-sized enterprises maintain a high level of competitiveness
Since March, small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises have maintained a high level of competitiveness in the face of complex domestic and foreign situations, showing strong resilience and vitality. The "China SME Foreign Trade Enterprise Competitiveness Index for March 2022" shows that China's SME foreign trade enterprises will be under short-term pressure in 2022, but the long-term fundamentals will not change.
The index is comprehensively evaluated from three dimensions: buyer trust, product attractiveness, and export operation efficiency. In March 2022, the index rose steadily, and the index returned to its end-of-2021 level. However, due to the temporary pressure on logistics warehousing, collection card transportation and port transportation in key foreign trade cities caused by the frequent outbreak of the epidemic in China, the efficiency performance of the supply chain is relatively sluggish, and the average delivery time has been extended from the best 29 days in November 2021 to 31 days.
At the same time, more and more small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises have certain digital capabilities, and the home isolation brought about by the escalation of epidemic prevention and control has not caused trade stagnation; in addition, the upstream and downstream suppliers of some small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises are scattered in many parts of the country, with a more decentralized and flexible supply chain, which effectively improves the ability to resist risks.
Extraordinary 3 Month: Foreign trade enterprises climbed over the hill
The ups and downs of the epidemic have repeatedly caused a general impact on foreign trade enterprises. The constant emergence of "variables" such as changes in the international situation and the increase in sea, land and air logistics costs are also placed in front of foreign traders. A foreign trade owner from Shenzhen who is engaged in the export of communication equipment said: "The epidemic has reduced people's economic activities, so the demand for our products has also decreased. More severely, the increase in logistics costs diluted most of the profits, and the sea, land and air freight rates soared. In addition, our warehouse in Hong Kong, due to the impact of the epidemic at the beginning of this year, led to a significant increase in the labor cost of delivery. ”
The news of the lockdown of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta due to the epidemic comes from time to time. Persistence is a portrayal of some "old foreign traders." "This year the situation is different, foreign production capacity is gradually recovering, while China has suffered a more serious epidemic, many foreign buyers will be more inclined to buy nearby, so our business challenge is definitely greater than last year."
In addition, the inability to deliver goods in time due to the epidemic sealing and control has also become the focus that many foreign trade enterprises cannot avoid, bringing a chain reaction to the upstream and downstream of the entire foreign trade industry chain. "The integrated development pattern of the Yangtze River Delta region, the production, logistics, warehousing, etc. in the surrounding areas have been greatly impacted, which has triggered a series of chain reactions; on the other hand, the goods exported from Shanghai Port can only be changed to export from Ningbo Port, resulting in congestion in Ningbo Port, which cannot go in and out, the container stay time is extended, and the delivery time of goods is postponed."
With the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, some foreign trade enterprises have further consolidated the internal coordination and supply chain management of the organization by improving their digital capabilities. The methods adopted by some small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen to stabilize foreign trade and open up blockages are also of reference significance to various localities. "Now everyone is trapped in Shanghai, and there is no way to fly to other cities to inspect goods." However, waiting for a long time is not the way, and we are currently considering inspection through photos, videos and other means. At the same time, in response to the epidemic and the risk that overseas orders may be reduced, many foreign traders have begun to adopt new approaches. Among them, some foreign traders choose to accelerate the decentralization of the supply chain, such as investing in factories in other places or looking for new partners, so that even if one factory is affected, there are other factories that can guarantee production capacity.
Under the pressure of the epidemic, some foreign trade enterprises have begun to strengthen their ability to obtain customers at the level of overseas social media. A foreign trader from Shenzhen said: "Now in addition to compressing management costs and trying to 'throttle' as much as possible, it is to find a way to 'open source'. We are currently strengthening our online customer acquisition capabilities and learning to get traffic through foreign social media such as TikTok and Instagram, and there are many such courses on the market now, and we are investing in learning at a cost. ”
We must face up to the difficulties and challenges we are currently encountering, but we must still firmly believe in the strength and resilience of China's foreign trade enterprises. The difficulties and dangers are not to be feared, the great war to refine real gold, the improvement of the production and manufacturing industry chain and the diligent and indomitable quality of Chinese foreign traders are the cornerstones to ensure that the foreign trade industry continues to move forward steadily. China's small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises will surely climb the slope and go far.