Recently, relevant departments have launched a number of targeted policies and measures to help enterprises create a good business environment and facilitate foreign trade import and export. Experts point out that the novel coronavirus may have a certain degree of impact on China's foreign trade in the short term, but it is unlikely to constitute a trend effect. Especially with the successive introduction and implementation of a series of targeted policies and measures, foreign trade import and export will receive stronger support.

Reduce the burden on small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises

——Reduction of fees, financing, subsidies, foreign trade companies are quickly recovering production capacity

The next day, three batches of fresh apples with a value of about 104,000 US dollars declared by a company in Jingning County, Pingliang City, Gansu Province, were successfully exported. This is the first batch of export business that has achieved smooth customs clearance since the first-level response to major public health emergencies in Gansu Province.

The relevant person in charge of Lanzhou Customs introduced that since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Lanzhou Customs, while actively doing various epidemic prevention and control work, has ensured that the import and export business in the area under the jurisdiction of the epidemic prevention and control business is normally carried out, and fully understand the import and export enterprises in advance. The import and export plan during the Spring Festival, and through the "China Single Window of International Trade", "Internet + Customs" and other systems, to achieve online customs business processing, and provide postal services for completed business receipts.

Deputy Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan pointed out that at present, many foreign trade companies are rapidly recovering production capacity, and various departments and regions are also fighting out epidemic prevention and control. At the same time, they will provide accurate measures for enterprises to do their export work and help companies create a good business environment. To help reduce the burden on enterprises.

As a large foreign trade market, Ningbo, Zhejiang has more than 270,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, and the epidemic situation has brought great pressure to these enterprises. In response, Ningbo has introduced 18 measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises, and clearly provided booth fee subsidies to foreign trade companies that were forced to abandon their participation due to the epidemic situation; increased the city's pre-shipment insurance premium support ratio to 50%, and expedited credit insurance claims Progress, the credit insurance agency's fixed loss compensation time was shortened to less than 2 months; optimized export tax rebate (exemption) tax services, while increasing foreign-related legal aid for foreign trade companies.

In addition, according to the policy, Ningbo will maintain sufficient liquidity for small and medium-sized enterprises, and three policy banks will implement the first batch of 5 billion yuan in emergency financing quotas in Ningbo branches. The social insurance rate will temporarily drop, which will increase the scale in recent three years. Small and medium-sized enterprises temporarily lowered the basic pension insurance and basic medical insurance unit payment ratios for one month, and increased policies to stabilize and return SMEs. For small and medium-sized enterprises that lease state-owned assets for operating houses, they are exempt from 2 months of rent. According to preliminary estimates, a series of favorable enterprise policies will reduce the burden on enterprises by more than 6 billion yuan.

More than just Ningbo, a number of targeted policies from the central and local governments are being implemented. A few days ago, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance, and other departments issued documents to clearly strengthen credit support for key areas such as small and micro enterprises and private enterprises, as well as support for discounts on loans to some enterprises. At the same time, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Shandong and other places have successively introduced measures to reduce the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises, involving deferred payment of social insurance and some taxes, rent reduction and exemption, and appropriate extension of loans.

Affected by the epidemic, recently some foreign trade companies in Shenzhen failed to deliver products to overseas customers on time, facing problems such as inability to perform contracts and bearing huge economic losses. In response, the Shenzhen Municipal Committee for the Promotion of International Trade (CPPC) recently applied for the first batch of factual certificates of force majeure of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Shenzhen for 11 companies.

According to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, enterprises affected by the epidemic that are unable to fulfill their international trade contracts as scheduled or unable to fulfill their international trade contracts may apply to CCPIT for factual proof of force majeure. Responsibility helps enterprises to minimize the responsibility of failing to perform the contract due to the epidemic situation, and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise. CCPIT and its authorized branches and branches have issued force majeure certificates for many enterprises in Liaoning, Shenzhen, and Zhejiang.

Expanding imports to help prevent epidemics

——Expansion of duty-free scope for import of anti-epidemic materials, “Green Channel” provides convenient and efficient customs clearance services

While doing a good job in exports, there are also a number of support policies for imports. A few days ago, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued a notice to establish a green channel for foreign exchange policy during epidemic prevention and control. It is proposed that foreign exchange branches should start emergency response mechanisms, and guide the banks within their jurisdictions to simplify the import and payment of foreign exchange purchase business procedures and materials for the prevention and control of imported materials for epidemic situations required by relevant departments and local governments, and effectively improve the handling. effectiveness.

Pan Gongsheng, director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, pointed out that during the Spring Festival, the country has completed a number of foreign exchange purchases and foreign exchange payments for the import of anti-epidemic materials. In the next step, we will continue to take measures to facilitate the import of epidemic prevention materials and the demand for foreign exchange. When an enterprise handles the settlement and payment of capital account income related to epidemic prevention and control, it is not necessary to submit documentary materials to the bank beforehand, and the bank will strengthen the post-hoc inspection of the authenticity of the use of corporate funds.

The Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation have jointly issued an announcement recently that from January 1 to March 31, 2020, a more preferential import tax policy will be implemented: First, the "Interim Measures for the Exemption of Import Taxes on Charitable Donated Materials" will be appropriately expanded. The specified scope of duty-free imported materials and the scope of tax-exempt subjects, etc., are exempted from import duties, value-added tax and consumption tax on imported materials donated for epidemic prevention and control. The second is to waive import duties on materials imported directly by the competent health department for the purpose of epidemic prevention and control. Third, the tax-exempt amount of tax-free imported materials has been levied and refunded. Fourth, the duty-free imported materials can be registered and released first, and then the relevant procedures must be completed in accordance with regulations.

Li Xuhong, director of the Institute of Finance, Taxation, Policy and Application, Beijing National Accounting Institute, said that this announcement has expanded the scope of donated tax-free imported materials and the scope of tax-exempt subjects, and focused precisely on the reagents, protective supplies and ambulances required for epidemic prevention and control. And other key materials will help to further improve epidemic prevention and control.

In order to expand the import of medical supplies and daily necessities, the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce issued a notice requesting that the competent commercial departments in various places attach great importance to the importance of expanding imports for the prevention and control of the epidemic, strengthen organizational leadership, increase coordination, do a good job of communication and implementation. Responsibility, expand the import of medical supplies and production raw materials, actively use imports to increase domestic meat and other agricultural product market supply, give full play to the advantages of new foreign trade formats, do a good job of expanding imports in accordance with local conditions, and resolutely win the battle against epidemic prevention and control.

According to preliminary monitoring by the Ministry of Commerce, pork, beef and other meat are expected to arrive in Hong Kong by 640 thousand tons in January, a year-on-year increase of 190%. Tianjin, Shanghai and other major meat import ports have sufficient stocks. The industry estimates that the current pork and beef stocks in Hong Kong total 16 10,000 tons; some leading import companies plan to import more than 100,000 tons of meat in the first quarter, a substantial increase over the same period last year.

Efficiency is the key to prevent and control the import of materials for epidemic situation. According to the General Administration of Customs, the customs has established special acceptance windows and green channels at customs clearance sites across the country to provide convenient and efficient customs clearance services for epidemic prevention and control materials in accordance with the principle of special affairs. For epidemic prevention and control materials donated overseas, procedures for tax reduction and exemption shall be made after registration and release. Imported medicines and medical equipment used for epidemic prevention and control treatment will be provided as soon as possible to ensure "zero delay" in customs clearance. The consultation hotline is set up in all the customs affiliated to the country and announced in the main media. The person in charge is on duty to respond to the needs of the enterprise, answer questions and guide the customs clearance business.

China's foreign trade remains resilient

——The foreign trade may be affected by the epidemic situation in a short period of time, but it will not affect the trend.

Talking about the impact of the epidemic on China's foreign trade, Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Commerce and director of the Regional Economic Research Center, analyzed this reporter's report that the epidemic may have a certain degree of impact on import and export, but from the current situation, This effect is mainly reflected in some short-term orders. Taking into account the influence of the Spring Festival, foreign trade imports and exports may fall to a certain extent in the short term, but this will not constitute a trend effect.

Wang Xiaohong, deputy director of the Information Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, also believes that due to the epidemic, the Spring Festival holiday has been extended, and enterprises cannot start work on time or deliver on schedule, which may affect their contracts with customers. But overall, the impact of the epidemic on foreign trade is limited and controllable. In terms of export product structure, mechanical and electrical products are the mainstay, and exports of high-tech and high value-added products are growing rapidly; in terms of service trade, knowledge-intensive emerging services trade is growing rapidly; at the same time, cross-border e-commerce, foreign trade integrated services, and markets New forms of foreign trade represented by purchasing trade have maintained rapid growth for three consecutive years. The continuous optimization of the foreign trade structure and the continuous upgrading of the value chain will help China to withstand the impact of the epidemic and strengthen its confidence to cope with temporary difficulties.

International authoritative organizations have also made a sound. The World Bank pointed out that it believes that China has policy space for preventing and controlling epidemics and maintaining economic resilience. The president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Georgiyeva, said that in support of China ’s defense and epidemic control measures, the Chinese economy continues to show “very strong resilience”, and the IMF is “full of confidence”.

"This epidemic is a test for China's foreign trade, but it does not mean that China's foreign trade can lie down. In the medium to long term, the endogenous growth momentum of China's foreign trade development is still strong and powerful." Director Bai Ming said that it is necessary to increase the driving force for innovation and actively cultivate new advantages in international competition; expand market access and continuously improve the business environment; combine the "Belt and Road" construction to find more business opportunities in the international market; further expand domestic demand, Take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the expansion of the "Chinese branch" of the international market.

In Zhang Jianping's opinion, in light of the outbreak of foreign trade companies due to the epidemic situation and the inability to deliver on time, the relevant enterprises should make full use of the "force majeure certificate" to minimize the losses suffered. Accelerate the implementation of tax and fee reduction policies, and introduce operational policies and measures in the areas of insurance deductions and loan renewals in response to delays in the start of business. In addition, the Pilot Free Trade Zone should better play a leading role and make greater contributions in replicating the promotion experience.

Wang Bingnan pointed out that in the context of increasing downward pressure on global economic and trade, it is even more important for the international community to work together to cope with the difficulties. As far as China's epidemic is concerned, the WHO believes that China's epidemic prevention and control is excellent, and it opposes any travel and trade restrictions against China. It also believes that letters and parcels from China are safe. "We are fully confident and capable of winning the battle against epidemic prevention and control. We also believe that governments and market entities at all stages of the global supply chain will provide more trade convenience for goods, services and goods exported to China."

Source from cs.com.cn