Encourage to Boost Imports

It’s learned that “adjusting structure and promoting balance” would be the tone for China’s foreign trade work in 2010. However， there’re some changes in specific policies which will shift attention to boosting import， unlike previous measures that blindly focus on encouraging imports; one of the major measures would be to facilitate the clearance of customs of commodities by abolishing non-tariff barriers.Some insider with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) told reporters on December 15th that policy guidance of next year will be imports-facilitating， which will further reduce the examination and approval procedures of imports， and narrow the registration scope subject to automatic import licensing; the MOC will continue to promote the reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers and open up manufacturing and services sectors to push the opening up of domestic markets. Besides the Ministry of Commerce will promote key industries and encourage the introduction of industry supporting policies， concerning， say， energy-conserving environment-friendly industries， high-tech industries， to promote the restructuring of Chinese enterprises and the development of service industry.Secretary-General of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges， former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce， Wei Jianguo said that China’s previous study on import was not enough; rather than take “import”into serious consideration， major national trade policies just kept focus on encouraging exports， which now require timely adjustments.During the just-ended 2010 Central Economic Work Conference， there are some changes in the account concerning foreign trade. The conference proposed to “attach equal importance to exports and imports， or more exactly， attracting foreign investment and investing in foreign countries， broaden the channels of international economic cooperation， and enhance opening up constantly.” Exports beat market’s expectationsAccording to some statistics， China’s foreign trade jumped 36.3 percent from a year earlier to 2.67728 trillion U.S. dollars from January to November of 2010. Among that China’s export recorded at USD 1423.84 billion， up 33.0% year on year and import rose 40.3% year on year to USD 1，253.4 billion， resulting in a trade surplus of 170.42 billion U.S. dollars.In fact， the Ministry of Commerce estimated at the end of 2009 that imports and exports would grow by eight to ten percent in the whole year of 2010; however， judged by the data of China’s foreign trade in the first 11 months of 2010， the recovery of exports has been much better than expected.“It’s estimated that export growth rate this year will be 28 to 30 percent” analyzed by some from the foreign trade system. The Ministry of Commerce has raised the estimated export growth rate to around 25 percent in the symposium in the 2010 Canton Fair.This impressive growth rate， however， may be unsustainable.Earlier a number of key provinces and cities engaged in foreign trade have estimated that overseas demand in the first half of 2011 will be slowing down greatly， making it difficult to reproduce the fast growth in 2010.Feedback from the Canton Fair Autumn 2010 showed that export orders at the fair were not in large numbers; what’s worse， most of those are short-term contracts. Some pessimists are even talking about a negative growth of export in 2011. “Even if it’s not a negative growth， the growth rate will be very limited.” Mr. Wei told reporters， “Generally China’s exports next year does not seem to be optimistic; a decline of 10 to 15 percentage points is expected.”According to the insider from the MOC China’s foreign trade policies will start to put more emphasis on the adjustment of trade structure from 2012; the country’s foreign trade growth target will thus expectedly be lowered.Huo Jianguo， the president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation， an institute under the Ministry of Commerce， gave the same judgment. He estimated that exports growth in 2011 will be around 15 to 16 percent; and imports will rise slightly faster， at a rate of 17 to 18 percent.Emphasis will be put on boosting importsIt’s the first time for China to position import so high in the country’s overall strategy.In fact， foreign trade policies have been showing signs of a shift ever since the start of the latter half of 2010. Reporters have noted that， officials with the Ministry of Commerce have been talking about taking a series of measures to further boost imports and maintaining a balanced development of foreign trade.In order to further expand imports volume， the Chinese government has already taken several measures， including lowering the import tariffs. The general tariff level in this country has been lowered at 9.8 percent in 2010， and China has further cut import tariffs of some raw materials and consumer goods and formulated policies for domestic sales of processing trade companies.However， the Ministry of Com- merce will focus more on expanding imports in 2011.The insider with the Ministry of Commerce told the reporter， the Ministry of Commerce will focus on encouraging imports from the countries with trade deficit with China， the Ministry of Commerce is even considering opening up unilaterally， relaxing import regulation， lowering import costs， simplifying import financing for domestic enterprises etc. In addition， the Ministry of Commerce will also support and organize various forms of investment and trade promotion missions to “go out” to invest and procure in 2011.Talking about the expansion of imports， Bai Ming， Deputy Director of the Research Department of International Market under the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC)， an affiliate of the Ministry of Commerce， said， “Apart from technology， China mainly needs to import resources， which for the most part refer to commodities， such as iron ore， crude oil.”To further enhance trade facilitation， China will continue to clean up nontariff barriers， improve trade policies， measures and customs inspection procedures， continue to simplify and relax certain import regulations， reduce import procedures， as well as reduce import costs.Long Guoqiang， Director of the Research Department of Foreign Economic Relations， Development Research Center of the State Council， told reporters that Europe and the United States need to relax the controls of technology export to China; for China’s part， the country should further open up the markets unilaterally， and give preferential trade treatment to the least developed economies to promote the liberalization of regional trade and multilateral so as to increase imports.Domestic and foreign trade will be integratedThe country should look forward to plan for the future as well as pay attention to the current situation to deliver a good result in foreign trade in 2011， as it’ note worthy that 2011 is the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan.It is known that in the 12th FiveYear period great emphasis will put on the transformation of the structure， quality， technology and standard of China’s foreign trade， with focus on urging the change of processing trade. What’s more， the Ministry of Commerce will also help foreign trade companies to enter the domestic market gradually in 2011.Chen Deming， the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce， noted in his investigation and research of foreign trade in Guangzhou， that “I believe China’s foreign trade structure will be greatly changed and improved and domestic market will integrate with overseas market after a few years’ time， especially in the 12th Five-year period. In my opinion the future Chinese domestic market will surpass Japan’s market significantly to become the world’s second largest domestic market.”Some people engaged in foreign trade indicated that， in addition to an expanding foreign trade size， China’s foreign trade team will be changed fundamentally with the transformation of international market pattern and the country’s economic development mode.Mr. Bai commented that China’s foreign trade will shift from a “masstrader pattern” to a “go-getter pattern”in the next five years; companies with few variations of products and weak bargaining power will be eliminated gradually.Along with the unification of domestic and overseas market， the product chain and industry chain of Chinese foreign trade enterprises will be further “extended” in the future， similar to the production and operation mode of current multinational enterprises in developed countries; and it will become a trend for manufacturing companies to move from “Made-in-China” to“Created-by-China” in accordance with their own needs for development.