Ministry of Commerce spokesman answered reporters’ questions on foreign trade import and export situation
On June 17, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference. Spokesperson Shen Danyang reported the business operation in China from January to May this year and answered questions from reporters. The following is a written record:
Good morning, journalists and friends. Welcome to today’s regular press conference. I’d better tell you about the business operation in China from January to May this year, and then answer your concerns.
[Shen Danyang]:I. About the operation of the domestic market
In May, the domestic consumer market continued the steady development momentum since this year, and the growth rate was accelerated. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to May, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 10,303.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.1%. In May, the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 12.5% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points faster than last month, and the real increase was 10.7% after deducting the price factor. The main features of the domestic consumer market in May were as follows:
First, the new format has developed rapidly. The new format represented by online retailing has maintained rapid development. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the online retail sales of units above designated size increased by 53.2% from January to May. Among the 5,000 key retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, online shopping increased by 32.5% in May, which was 27.1%, 25.9% and 24.5% higher than that of department stores, supermarkets and specialty store.
Second, the consumer demand for information products has increased. Among the 5,000 key retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, the sales of communication equipment increased by 10.6%, 5.6 percentage points faster than the same period of last year, among which the sales of 3G mobile phones increased by 22.4%. From January to May, the sales of tablet computers increased by 53.6% year-on-year.
Third, popular catering consumption continued to rise. With the change of market demand, the pace of structural adjustment of catering industry has been accelerated, and affordable, convenient and fast popular catering has been further recognized and welcomed by the market. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the income of catering enterprises increased by 11% in May, 1.8 percentage points faster than the same period of last year, among which the income of catering enterprises above designated size increased by 6.2%, 8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.
Fourth, green consumption has steadily increased. With the continuous adjustment of consumption structure, residents’ green and low-carbon consumption concept has been enhanced, and the sales of energy-saving and environmental protection products have been accelerated. Among the 5,000 key retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, with the warming weather, the sales of air conditioners accelerated, and the sales in May increased by 14.9%, among which the sales of inverter air conditioners with energy-saving and environmental protection functions increased by 29.8%. According to the statistics of the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of new energy vehicles increased by 120% in the first quarter.
Fifth, the sales of large and medium-sized circulation enterprises rebounded steadily. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of consumer goods above designated size increased by 9.9%, up 0.5 percentage points from last month. The sales of 5,000 key retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increased by 7% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than last month, and rebounded slightly for three consecutive months.
Sixth, consumer prices are basically stable. From January to May, the national consumer price level rose by 2.3%, of which, it rose by 2.5% year-on-year in May, an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the previous month. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce, the prices of edible agricultural products in 36 large and medium-sized cities nationwide rose by 2.2% year-on-year in May, up by 1.7 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, milk, beef, mutton and eggs increased by 9.6%, 7.3%, 5.5% and 5.1% respectively. The wholesale price of pork increased by 10.8% compared with March, but it still decreased by 3.3% year-on-year.
Second, about foreign trade.
According to customs statistics, from January to May 2014, the total import and export value of China was 10.3 trillion yuan, down 2.2% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 5.4 trillion yuan, down 2.7%; Imports were 4.9 trillion yuan, down 1.6%; The trade surplus was 436.6 billion yuan, narrowing by 13.6%. In dollar terms, from January to May, China’s total import and export value was 1,679.1 billion US dollars, up by 0.2%. Among them, exports were 875.2 billion US dollars, down by 0.4%; Imports reached US$ 803.9 billion, up by 0.8%; The trade surplus was $71.3 billion, narrowing by 12.2%. The import and export of foreign trade in May mainly showed the following characteristics:
First, exports continued to improve, and imports turned from rising to falling. In dollar terms, China’s total import and export value in May was US$ 355.02 billion, up 3% year-on-year and 2.2 percentage points higher than that in April. Among them, exports reached US$ 195.47 billion, up 7%, up 6.1 percentage points from April; Imports reached US$ 159.55 billion, down 1.6%, down 2.4 percentage points from April; The trade surplus was $35.92 billion, an increase of 74.9%.
Second, the export growth rate of electromechanical and high-tech products changed from negative to positive. Benefiting from the global trade and industrial chain driven by the economic recovery in Europe and America, the export of mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products increased by 6.6% and 4.8% respectively in May, 9.0 and 15.7 percentage points higher than that in April, both of which were positive growth for the first time in the past four months. At the same time, the export of seven categories of labor-intensive products increased by 7.9%, which was the same as last month. Among them, clothing exports increased by 9.5%, and furniture exports decreased by 4.4%, up by 5 and 0.7 percentage points compared with April; The export of textiles, shoes and toys increased by 7.7%, 15.7% and 12.4% respectively, which was 1.7%, 5.6% and 11.6% lower than that in April.
Third, the growth rate of import of resource products declined. In May, the import volume of mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products decreased by 36.4% and 37.0% respectively. Imports of soybeans, iron ore and crude oil increased by 20.6%,-6.4% and 11.9% respectively, down by 41.7, 8.6 and 7.8 percentage points from April. From January to May, China’s imports of soybeans, iron ore and crude oil increased by 35.3%, 19% and 11.1% respectively, while the average import price decreased by 5.9%, 12.5% and 3.3% respectively, while the import prices of major commodities increased and fell.
Fourth, general trade exports maintained rapid growth. In May, China’s import and export of general trade was US$ 194.31 billion, and that of processing trade was US$ 112.77 billion. Among them, general trade exports increased by 10.3% and processing trade exports increased by 1.6%; General trade imports decreased by 5.5%, and processing trade imports decreased by 1.2%.
Fifth, the growth rate of exports to the United States, Japan and Europe slowed down, and the growth rate of exports to ASEAN accelerated. In May, China’s exports to the United States, the European Union and Japan increased by 6.3%, 13.4% and 2.2% respectively, which was slightly lower than that in April. Exports to ASEAN increased by 9.1%, 5.4 percentage points higher than that in April. Overall exports to BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) increased by 0.5%, slightly down by 1.5 percentage points from April. Exports to Hong Kong decreased by 0.8% year-on-year, which was 30.6 percentage points narrower than that in April.
Sixth, the export of the central and western regions grew rapidly. In May, the export growth rates of Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Anhui and Inner Mongolia were 117.5%, 115.0%, 80.0%, 70.5%, 63.8%, 59.0%, 56.1% and 50.0% respectively.
Iii. About the situation of absorbing foreign capital
From January to May 2014, 8,744 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established, up 1.6% year-on-year; The actual amount of foreign capital used was 301.09 billion yuan (US$ 48.91 billion), a year-on-year increase of 2.8% (excluding data in banking, securities and insurance, the same below). In the month of May, the actually used foreign capital amounted to US$ 8.6 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%. The absorption of foreign capital from January to May has the following characteristics:
(1) The actual use of foreign capital in the service industry maintained rapid growth. From January to May 2014, the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry was US$ 27.5 billion, up 19.5% year-on-year, accounting for 56.2% of the national total. Among them, the actual use of foreign capital in distribution service industry and transportation service industry is relatively large, amounting to $3.39 billion and $1.9 billion respectively. The amount of foreign capital actually used in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery was US$ 500 million, up 2.7% year-on-year, accounting for 1.2% of the national total. The actual use of foreign capital in manufacturing industry was US$ 17.4 billion, down 16.5% year-on-year, accounting for 35.6% of the national total. Among them, the actual use of foreign capital in electronic equipment manufacturing such as communication equipment and computers, transportation equipment manufacturing, chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing is relatively large, amounting to $2.88 billion, $1.67 billion and $1.36 billion respectively, up by 0.6%, down by 23.9% and down by 39.7% respectively.
(2) The investment of major countries/regions in China has maintained a steady growth trend. From January to May, 2014, the top ten countries/regions (Hongkong, Taiwan Province, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany, Britain, France and Bermuda) invested a total of 46.08 billion US dollars, accounting for 94.2% of the actual foreign investment in China. It increased by 5% year-on-year, which was 2.2 percentage points higher than the national increase. Among them, South Korea and the United Kingdom increased by 87.9% and 62.2% respectively. Japan decreased by 42.2% and the United States decreased by 9.3%. In addition, from January to May, the actual investment of 28 EU countries in China was US$ 2.58 billion, down 22.1% year-on-year; The actual investment of ASEAN in China was US$ 2.54 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%.
(3) The actual use of foreign capital in the central region grew rapidly. From January to May 2014, the actual amount of foreign capital used in the eastern region was US$ 40.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%; The actual use of foreign capital in the central region was US$ 4.9 billion, up 16.7% year-on-year; The actual use of foreign capital in the western region was $3.5 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.3%. From January to May, the eastern, central and western regions accounted for 82.9%, 10% and 7.1% of the total foreign investment absorbed in China. Compared with the same period last year, the overall share of the central and western regions in the national total increased slightly.
Iv. information on foreign investment and economic cooperation
Foreign direct investment. From January to May this year, domestic investors in China made direct investments in 2,766 overseas enterprises in 146 countries and regions around the world, and accumulated non-financial foreign direct investment (the same below) reached 30.81 billion US dollars (equivalent to 189.02 billion yuan), down 10.2% year-on-year. By the end of May, China’s accumulated non-financial foreign direct investment was 556.5 billion US dollars (equivalent to 3,414.2 billion yuan). In May, foreign direct investment increased by US$ 5.12 billion, up by 6.9% year-on-year.
From January to May, China’s mainland investment in seven major economies, including Hong Kong, China, ASEAN, European Union, Australia, the United States, Russia and Japan, reached US$ 21.16 billion, accounting for 68.7% of China’s total foreign direct investment in the same period, and the proportion decreased by 9.6 percentage points. Among them, the investment in Hong Kong, China, EU and Australia decreased by 32.6%, 9.2% and 3.2% respectively; Investment in the United States was $2.03 billion, an increase of 144%; Investment in ASEAN was US$ 1.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%; Due to the small base in the same period last year, the investment in Russia and Japan increased by 105.7% and 141.9%.
Foreign contracted projects. From January to May this year, the turnover of China’s foreign contracted engineering business was 46.9 billion US dollars (equivalent to 287.74 billion yuan), up 7.3% year-on-year, and the newly signed contract amount was 53.36 billion US dollars (equivalent to 327.37 billion yuan), down 5.6% year-on-year. There were 223 projects with newly signed contracts worth more than 50 million US dollars (13 fewer than 236 in the same period of last year), totaling 41.3 billion US dollars, accounting for 77.4% of the total newly signed contracts. Among them, there are 126 projects with hundreds of millions of dollars, a decrease of 7 compared with the same period of last year.
In May, the turnover was US$ 10.51 billion, up by 12.4% year-on-year, and the new contract value was US$ 9.58 billion, up by 1.9% year-on-year.
By the end of May, the total contracted value of foreign contracted engineering business was US$ 1.2 trillion, with a turnover of US$ 839.7 billion.
Foreign labor service cooperation. From January to May this year, China sent 200,000 laborers of various types in foreign labor cooperation, an increase of 15,000 compared with the same period of last year, including 94,000 laborers under contracting projects and 106,000 laborers under labor cooperation. At the end of May, there were 917,000 foreign laborers, an increase of 58,000 over the same period last year.
In May, 45,000 laborers of various types were dispatched, an increase of 4,000 over the same period last year.
By the end of May, 7.12 million people of various types had been sent to foreign labor cooperation business.
V. Service outsourcing
According to the statistics of the Service Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, from January to May 2014, China signed a total of 65,248 service outsourcing contracts with a contract value of 40 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 43.5%; The execution amount was US$ 27.27 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%. Among them, the amount of international service outsourcing contracts was $27.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%; The execution amount was US$ 18.54 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%.
The United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, China and Japan are the main contracting markets for purchasing international services. From January to May, 2014, China’s offshore service outsourcing from the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, China and Japan amounted to US$ 4.32 billion, US$ 2.72 billion, US$ 2.72 billion and US$ 1.90 billion respectively, accounting for 23.3%, 14.7%, 14.7% and 10.2% of the total implementation.
The role of industrial agglomeration in demonstration cities is outstanding. From January to May, 2014, 21 service outsourcing demonstration cities signed offshore service outsourcing contracts worth 24.87 billion US dollars, up 38.9% year-on-year; The execution amount was US$ 16.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36%. The offshore contract amount and execution amount account for 91.9% and 90.7% of the whole country, respectively, and the industrial agglomeration and guidance of demonstration cities are outstanding.
The scale of service outsourcing employment has steadily expanded. From January to May 2014, there were 258,000 new employees in China’s service outsourcing. By the end of May, 2014, there were 25,969 service outsourcing enterprises in China, with 5.619 million employees, including 3.746 million with college education or above, accounting for 66.7% of the total employees.
Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is dominant. From January to May 2014, the proportion of offshore information technology outsourcing (ITO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) in China was 53.3%, 32.5% and 14.2% respectively, and information technology outsourcing (ITO) still dominated. Knowledge process outsourcing business such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D and testing, product technology R&D and industrial design has grown rapidly.
VI. The Development Report of Renewable Resources Industry in China (2013) was released.
Recently, entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce, China Materials Recycling Association compiled and published the Report on the Development of Renewable Resources Industry in China (2013). Focusing on the key varieties of renewable resources, the Development Report shows the overall situation and latest trends of the development of renewable resources industry through domestic and international and regional comparisons, and forecasts and prospects the development trend of recycling industry in 2014.
According to the Development Report, in recent years, the recycling industry of renewable resources has developed steadily under the impetus of the relevant policies of the state to develop circular economy. In 2013, there were more than 100,000 renewable resource recycling enterprises in China, with about 18 million employees. The total amount of major renewable resources recovered in eight categories, including waste steel, waste nonferrous metals, waste plastics, waste tires, waste paper, waste electrical and electronic products, waste automobiles and waste ships, was about 160 million tons, with a total recovery value of 481.71 billion yuan. However, affected by the macroeconomic situation and other factors, the recycling industry is generally in a period of adjustment, market confidence has not fully recovered, and the recycling volume of individual varieties has declined slightly. For example, the volume of plastic recycling was about 13.66 million tons, down 14.6% year-on-year; The recycling of waste paper was about 43.77 million tons, down 2% year-on-year.
The "Development Report" also shows that recycling renewable resources has a significant effect on energy saving and emission reduction compared with using primary materials. According to the total amount of recovery, recycling renewable resources in 2013 can save energy by 172.725 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 4.6% of the national total energy consumption of 3.75 billion tons of standard coal, reducing wastewater discharge by 11,201.367 million tons, sulfur dioxide discharge by 3.77 million tons and solid waste discharge by 3,575.509 million tons.
The Development Report also predicted the development trend of the recycling industry in 2014. On the whole, with the favorable policy opportunity of China’s new rural construction and urbanization development, the long-term trend of renewable resources recycling industry is improving, and it is expected to get out of the current adjustment period. Among them, the development of park agglomeration will become the development direction of the industry, and low-value varieties such as waste glass will be paid more and more attention.
[Shen Danyang]: The above is the main business operation from January to May, and you are welcome to ask questions.
[CCTV News Center reporter]: In May, the import and export decreased from the previous month to the growth, especially the export increased from 4.8% in April to 5.4%. Does this indicate that the foreign trade situation has begun to improve? In addition, what is the main reason for the decline in imports in May? How does the Ministry of Commerce view the foreign trade import and export situation in the next few months? Thank you.
[Shen Danyang]: In May this year, in terms of US dollars, the national import and export increased by 3%, of which exports increased by 7%, and the growth rate was 6.1 percentage points higher than that of the previous month. The rebound in export growth in May benefited from the introduction of the central government’s policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade, boosted the confidence of export enterprises, benefited from the steady recovery of international market demand, and was also related to the weakening of the influence of abnormal trade factors at the beginning of last year.
From the trend point of view, export growth has indeed shown a gradual improvement momentum. In fact, this can be seen from the data in April and May. Although the economies of the United States, Japan and Europe fluctuated in May, they remained basically stable. JPMorgan Chase’s global comprehensive PMI index and new order index both reached 54.3, hitting new highs in the year and higher than the same period last year, indicating that the global recovery has accelerated. Emerging economies have gradually digested the negative impact of the withdrawal of quantitative easing monetary policy in the United States, and their economies have also improved. The HSBC PMI Emerging Markets Index has rebounded for three consecutive months, reaching 50.6 in May. In the first five months, China’s exports to the United States, Japan and Europe increased by 6.3%, and exports to ASEAN increased by 6.6%. From the perspective of trade mode, although processing trade is still relatively weak, the growth rate of general trade exports has exceeded 8% for three consecutive months, and the export scale of bulk commodities such as clothing, shoes, digital TV, smart phones and automobiles has been expanding. The above has analyzed the export situation for everyone, and it should be said that the export has gradually improved.
Speaking of imports, in terms of US dollars, the national imports fell by 1.6% in May, which was a negative growth for three consecutive months, with general trade falling by 5.5% and processing trade falling by 1.1%. What is the reason for the decline in imports? There are three main reasons for our analysis: First, domestic demand is still relatively weak. Second, the international market prices of energy and resource products such as iron ore, nonferrous metals, refined oil and semi-refined oil have fallen. In fact, the number of some imported commodities has increased. It is not necessarily a bad thing that the import value decreases due to the decline of commodity prices in the international market. Third, the role of other factors, such as exchange rate fluctuations and so on.
Speaking of the foreign trade situation throughout the year, you may be more concerned about what will happen in the next few months. We believe that in the next few months, there will still be more favorable factors than unfavorable ones, and foreign trade is expected to continue the momentum of stabilization and recovery. Of course, the current situation is still complicated and grim, and the task is still arduous to achieve the expected development goals. The main favorable factors are the rebound of foreign market demand, the introduction of support policies by the state, and the confidence of export enterprises is boosting. It is very important to boost the confidence of export enterprises. The survey of more than 1,900 key foreign trade enterprises in China by the Ministry of Commerce shows that the export confidence index has reached 108.9 in May, and it is not bad to exceed 100. The confidence index we surveyed has reached 108.9, which has been above the critical line for three consecutive months, indicating that exports will continue to improve in the second half of the year. The forecasts of China Academy of Social Sciences and China Lixin Risk Management Research Institute also show that the growth rate of foreign trade is expected to pick up further in the second half of the year.
Of course, there are also unfavorable factors. The main unfavorable factors are that the foundation for the stabilization of external demand is not strong, and the advantages of China’s traditional exports are weakening. On the import side, due to weak domestic demand, import confidence is relatively weak.
Faced with this trend, in the next few months, or the whole second half of the year, the top priority of foreign trade work is to conscientiously implement the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Supporting the Stable Growth of Foreign Trade, and implement the Opinions to ensure that every decision and deployment of the central government can benefit enterprises and achieve practical results. At the same time, we will actively guide enterprises to continuously improve their independent innovation capability and core competitiveness, and strive to achieve the expected goals.
[First Financial TV reporter]: I have two questions. First, on May 29th, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China issued a report, which showed that 552 EU enterprises in China lacked confidence in China. They said that China’s investment environment was not as advantageous as before due to the economic slowdown, increasing competitive pressure and rising labor costs. What is the view of the Ministry of Commerce? Secondly, Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Europe has attracted everyone’s attention. It is reported that the Sino-British talks will sign a large bill of 10 billion US dollars, including China’s possible investment in high-speed rail projects in Britain. Please tell us about it. thank you
Shen Danyang: First question, we have noticed the relevant report issued by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and will pay attention to and seriously study the problems and suggestions reflected in it. Including some problems encountered by EU enterprises in investing in China, are also problems that the China government is trying to solve. Most of these problems are not new. At the same time, these problems are common to most developing countries, and many of them are actually getting better rather than the opposite. Therefore, some media have come to the conclusion that China’s market is losing its appeal, which I think is untenable.
China’s domestic political stability, expanding market scale, increasing opening of industrial sectors and continuous improvement of business environment still have outstanding comprehensive advantages in attracting foreign investment. There are a lot of data to support this judgment. We have talked about these data in many press conferences, so I won’t repeat them. However, there is indeed room for further improvement in our business environment, so the China Municipal Government has been making continuous efforts from top to bottom. For example, on May 28 this year, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement and decided to carry out a three-month pilot project to standardize and optimize the approval of foreign investment. Except for the special industry of direct selling, the establishment and change of foreign-invested enterprises approved by the Ministry of Commerce according to law are all included in the pilot scope. The main contents of the pilot include shortening the time limit for examination and approval, simplifying the application procedures and simplifying the application documents. Through this pilot work, the Ministry of Commerce will explore useful measures to further shorten the examination and approval time, improve the examination and approval efficiency and standardize the examination and approval behavior, and provide experience for further deepening the reform of administrative examination and approval. In the next step, we will continue to coordinate and push relevant parties to intensify reforms, expand market access, improve the investment environment, and continue to enhance China’s attractiveness to foreign investment.
As for Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Britain and Greece, this visit will certainly produce good economic and trade results, but at the beginning of the visit, everyone should wait patiently, and I believe there will be good news to tell you later. Thank you.
[AFP reporter]: ASEAN countries are generally very important sources of foreign direct investment in China from January to May, but it dropped by 22.3% year-on-year. Is there any special reason? Because we know that there have been some tense relations with some ASEAN member countries, such as Vietnam, has this affected ASEAN’s investment in China? In addition, has the Ministry of Commerce studied whether this decline is temporary, monthly or will become a trend?
Shen Danyang: Judging from the current situation, China’s foreign investment is good, and ASEAN countries’ investment in China is good. Some data changes are mainly affected by the change of project base. For example, there were some relatively large projects last year, but these projects are gone this year, so there is such a data change in comparison. However, this is not a trend situation. Generally speaking, the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN has not been affected by some current peripheral factors. We believe that the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN, whether in trade or investment, will still maintain the momentum of rapid development.
[national business daily reporter]: You just said that the top task of the Ministry of Commerce at present is to decompose and implement the new National Document No.19. Can you tell us what stage it has reached? In addition, recently, we are more concerned about whether Ali’s acquisition of Hang Seng Electronics is handled as a simple case. Can you tell us about the current anti-monopoly review work carried out by the Ministry of Commerce?
[Shen Danyang]: Document No.19 is a very important document, which will play an important role in the next step of foreign trade export, import, transformation and upgrading, and stable development. Therefore, the Ministry of Commerce attaches great importance to the implementation of this opinion and has made it the top priority of our foreign trade work at present.
We made a comprehensive deployment of the national business system at the first time, and soon sent nine working groups to 13 key provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country to carry out work, mainly to carry out research and publicize policies. At the same time, we organized various import and export chambers of commerce, relevant research institutions and the media to conduct research in textile, light industry, Minmetals, edible soil, electromechanical and other industries, and conducted a questionnaire survey of foreign trade enterprises to deeply understand their demands and listen to their opinions and suggestions. At present, a very important task is to push the relevant departments to introduce various supporting measures as soon as possible in accordance with the requirements of the documents. For example, in terms of trade facilitation measures, how to further decentralize administrative examination and approval items, reduce the types of automatic import licensing shopping, cancel or reduce the import and export fees of directly affiliated institutions, effectively reduce the burden on enterprises, and improve the level of trade facilitation are all our key tasks, which are led by the Ministry of Commerce. At the same time, we are also supervising or coordinating the work of other departments.
Zhejiang Rongxin Network Technology Co., Ltd. intends to acquire all the shares of Hang Seng Electronics Group Co., Ltd., and the operators are concentrated. We have filed a case on June 4 and are currently in the review stage.
[Phoenix Satellite TV reporter]: The first question is coming on June 21st, the first anniversary of the signing of the cross-strait service agreement. We have also seen the controversy caused by this agreement. Some news said that the two sides of the strait have suspended the negotiations on relevant mechanisms, including trade in goods, including dispute settlement mechanism and aviation laws. We have seen some departments come out to make rumors. I would like to ask if the relevant negotiations are still going on and how is the progress? Will it affect our attitude towards cross-strait negotiations because of the signing process of Taiwan Province’s service trade? In addition, if Taiwan Province conducts a step-by-step review of cross-strait service agreements, have we decided whether we can return or what to do next? Second, in the first five months, the investment in Japan and the United States has basically increased by more than 144%, but it seems that the investment in China from these two countries has decreased, especially in Japan, by more than 40%. What do you think of this phenomenon? Thank you.
[Shen Danyang]: Regarding the negotiation of goods trade agreements and dispute settlement agreements, cross-strait business authorities and industries have actually maintained communication and exchange of views. Our attitude towards continuously promoting the institutionalization of cross-strait economic cooperation and promoting the follow-up consultation of ECFA has not changed. We also hope to continue to strengthen cross-strait economic cooperation for the benefit of compatriots on both sides of the strait, and we do not want this process to be affected. What needs to be reiterated here is that the cross-strait service trade agreement is a signed agreement, which is authorized by the two associations. The authority of the two associations’ authorized consultations and agreements should be maintained.
Everyone is very concerned about the changes in investment in Japan and the United States, and the question raised by a reporter just now is somewhat similar. What I can answer now is that these changes in investment are mainly affected by the changes in the amount of some projects, because the relatively fast growth this year is often due to the relatively small base last year, so last year, there was a big increase not only for the United States and Japan, but also for Russia. Last year, the amount of a merger and acquisition project in the Canadian oil field reached more than 10 billion US dollars, and this year there was no such a large amount. In addition, last year, a lot of investment in Canada was transferred through Hong Kong, which affected the growth of investment in Hong Kong. Of course, we need to analyze whether there are other factors, and we are doing analysis now. Just now, the reporter asked, is this a trend change, or is it really caused by a project? This needs to be followed up for several months before a conclusion can be drawn.
[Reporter china securities journal]: How does the Ministry of Commerce view the current consumer market situation, and what are its expectations for the annual consumer market? Thank you.
[Shen Danyang]: The total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 12.5% in May, 0.6 percentage points faster than that in April, which is the highest growth rate since this year. Although the cumulative growth in the first five months was 12.1%, it still slowed down slightly by 0.5 percentage points compared with the same period of the previous year. Overall, this year’s consumer market is basically stable and getting better and better.
Regarding the situation of consumption throughout the year, we believe that as the macro economy continues to stabilize and improve, the consumer market is expected to further stabilize and rebound, and then the consumer market will continue to maintain a steady growth and sustained development trend. Why can you make such a judgment? Mainly based on four reasons:
First, from the trend, the cumulative growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods accelerated month by month in the first five months of this year, increasing by 11.8% in January-February, 12% in January-March and January-April, and 12.1% in January-May.
Second, from the perspective of power, the driving force for stimulating consumption growth is still behind. Deepening reform and further simplifying administration and decentralization will fully release and stimulate market vitality. The growth of residents’ employment is stable, with 6 million new jobs in January-May, which will stabilize consumer confidence and spending power, and the endogenous driving force of consumption growth will continue to increase.
Third, from the policy point of view, while expanding information consumption and pension consumption, the government pays attention to directional regulation and has successively introduced a series of policy measures, such as accelerating the transformation of shanty towns, supporting the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, increasing railway construction in the central and western regions, and supporting the steady growth of foreign trade. These policy measures have provided important support for consumption growth.
Fourth, from the perspective of consumption structure, new consumption hotspots such as online shopping and new electronic products have gradually formed, and popular catering is gradually picking up, which also promotes the rapid growth of consumption.
[Xinhua News Agency reporter]: We noticed that the actual use of foreign capital in May decreased year-on-year, but at the same time, the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry has been growing in recent months, and from the situation in the first five months, the growth rate of the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry is even faster than the growth rate of 19.1% in the previous four months, and it continues to grow in the proportion of the whole country. I would like to ask Director Shen, will the rapid growth of the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry be a trend in the future? In addition, from the numerical point of view, the scale of foreign investment in distribution services and transportation services has been relatively large in recent months. What are the reasons? What is the next step for the Ministry of Commerce to further expand and open the service industry?
[Shen Danyang]: I think you are keenly aware of this trend problem. I think this is a trend situation. In fact, it has been more than a few months. In recent years, the proportion of service industry in China’s utilization of foreign capital has been expanding, and the growth rate of service industry’s utilization of foreign capital is obviously much faster than that of manufacturing, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fishery. On the one hand, the market has formed this kind of attraction. Foreign investors come to China for development first, and it is for the attraction of the market. That’s why I said just now that the view that China is losing its appeal is untenable. More and more foreign businessmen have seen the potential market opportunities in the development of China’s service industry.
On the other hand, our country’s industrial restructuring and vigorous development of service industry and service trade have provided more opportunities for enterprises, especially foreign-invested enterprises, to develop in China. For example, many policies and measures, such as further opening up, building a new open economic system, and vigorously developing service trade, are conducive to foreign investors to invest in the development of service industry in China, and the service industry will open wider and more fields. Therefore, this is a trend feature, and I don’t think there should be any major reversal changes. On the other hand, the proportion of manufacturing industry in the whole utilization of foreign capital in China tends to decline, which is also a trend. Of course, we don’t want to drop too much. We hope that some advanced manufacturing industries, which are conducive to structural adjustment, will continue to attract foreign investment.
When it comes to the Ministry of Commerce’s promotion of foreign capital utilization in the service industry, we have been studying how to further expand foreign capital utilization in the service industry. However, foreign capital in the service industry covers a wide range and fields, so we need to conduct research with various industries and relevant departments, open it in an orderly manner, conform to the direction of the overall economic restructuring, and combine it with some steps of our opening up, including some international negotiations we have participated in. Of course, the Ministry of Commerce also manages a very important business, that is, service trade. The development of service trade is also inseparable from the utilization of foreign capital and the further opening up of the service industry. Recently, we are working hard to study and further promote the relevant policies for the development of service industry and service trade, and we are drafting a very important document around building a new open economic system. Thank you for your question.
[China Daily reporter]: I’d like to ask questions about China and Japan. I have noticed that the number of tourists from China to Japan has increased considerably since the beginning of this year, Japanese exports to China have also increased significantly since the Diaoyu Islands crisis, and China’s investment in Japan has also increased substantially. Is it a trend that the economic and trade relations between China and Japan are picking up or rebounding? Thank you.
[Shen Danyang]: At present, Sino-Japanese trade does show some signs of recovery. With the economic stabilization of China and the promotion of consumption caused by Japanese tax increase, the domestic demand markets of the two countries have recovered, and the recent changes in the exchange rates of the two countries tend to be stable, the economic environment for cooperation between the two countries has improved compared with the previous period. However, from the perspective of policy factors, the continuous deterioration of political relations between the two countries will lead to the deterioration of the economic cooperation environment between the two countries, which may lead to the retrogression of economic and trade relations and affect the willingness of enterprises to cooperate. This kind of influence is obvious in investment cooperation, and it may play a driving role in trade through investment and have an impact on trade between the two countries, which will make the economic and trade circles of the two countries lose valuable opportunities for cooperation. In fact, according to the data just mentioned, there are opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in terms of the market. Due to political factors, the impact on economic and trade is not in the interests of both sides, and we do not want to see it. The responsibility is not on China. Thank you for your question.
[International Business Daily reporter]: We noticed that the online retail transaction volume in Chinese mainland in 2013 exceeded 1.85 trillion RMB, ranking first in the world. Excuse me, Director Shen, what has the Ministry of Commerce done to promote and standardize online shopping this year? What problems will be focused on in the next step?
[Shen Danyang]: In 2013, the online retail market reached 1.85 trillion yuan, surpassing the United States, and China has become the largest online retail market in the world. In 2013, the online retail transaction volume of 1.85 trillion yuan was equivalent to 7.8% of the total retail sales of social consumers. In the first five months of this year, online retail sales increased by about 32.5% year-on-year, and continued to maintain the momentum of rapid growth. As a new thing, online retailing is developing rapidly, but at the same time, there are some problems, such as online fraud, selling fake and shoddy goods, and abuse of personal privacy information, which are all phenomena that harm consumers’ interests. All sectors of society are concerned about these problems, which have the characteristics of cross-regional and cross-departmental, and need the cooperation and co-management of all levels and departments to effectively solve them.
Since the beginning of this year, in order to solve these problems, the Ministry of Commerce has focused on three tasks: First, cooperate with the NPC Financial and Economic Committee to draft the Electronic Commerce Law, and strive to make corresponding provisions in this law on how to clarify the responsibility of commodity quality control of e-commerce platforms, the burden of proof and compensation for online commodity quality disputes, the disclosure system of online commodity quality information, and the construction of credit management system under the network environment. Second, the formulation of urgently needed departmental rules and regulations, such as the Measures for the Administration of Trading Rules of Third-Party Platforms in Online Retail and the Measures for the Protection of Online Commercial Data, are being drafted. Third, we should carry out standardization research on the internal control system of e-commerce platform, and refer to the mature systems and effective practices of enterprises in key links such as business audit, information disclosure, customer evaluation and complaint handling, and prepare to raise them to industry standards and promote their implementation.
[CCTV Financial Channel reporter]: Recently, some foreign media said that the battle between Europe and China for solar energy production capacity is escalating. The European Union supported solar energy organizations to submit accusations against dozens of China photovoltaic enterprises to the European Commission, including allegations of large-scale circumvention in China and the lowest selling price agreement in Brussels. Excuse me, how will the Ministry of Commerce respond to this?
[Shen Danyang]: The photovoltaic price commitment between China and Europe is the result of the joint efforts of both governments and industries, and it is also a model for the two sides to successfully resolve trade frictions through consultation. In this regard, the China government and the industry cherish it very much.
It is understood that since the entry into force of the photovoltaic price commitment agreement, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products and the European Commission have maintained close communication and contact, and regularly informed the investigation authorities of the implementation of the price commitment and submitted relevant materials. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Appliances regularly informs the European side about the situation, and also regularly reports to the Ministry of Commerce of China about the implementation and supervision of price commitments. According to the chamber of commerce, there is no evidence that enterprises have violated the agreement to export.
The European Commission will send someone to China next month to check the price commitment of photovoltaic enterprises in China. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Appliances and related enterprises have indicated that they will actively cooperate. If it is found that some enterprises do violate the agreement, China supports the corresponding treatment according to the agreement. At the same time, China opposes any act of smearing China enterprises with ulterior motives through the media.
The China-EU PV price agreement is hard-won, and China has always held a serious and responsible attitude towards the implementation and supervision of the commitments. China is willing to continue to work with the European side to jointly safeguard the smooth implementation of photovoltaic price commitments and truly achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
[China News Service reporter]: Ask a question about Sino-US trade friction. On June 3rd, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the preliminary results of photovoltaic, arguing that crystalline silicon photovoltaic products imported from China were subsidized. On the same day, united steelworkers union submitted an application to relevant U.S. departments, asking for a "double-reverse" investigation on cars and light truck tires exported from China to the United States. Will this move trigger a new round of Sino-US trade friction climax? Thank you.
[Shen Danyang]: Since the beginning of this year, the trade protection measures issued by the US to China are obviously an abuse of trade remedy measures, which is bound to escalate Sino-US PV trade disputes again. China believes that photovoltaic products, as one of the representative products of clean energy, have made important contributions to the sustainable development of mankind. In the past 10 years, thanks to the efficient cooperation under the global division of labor, the price of photovoltaic products has dropped significantly, and photovoltaic power generation is entering thousands of households, benefiting global welfare. What the US has done is not only damaging the interests of China’s photovoltaic enterprises, but also the healthy development of the global photovoltaic industry. In this regard, not only the China industry is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed, but also the upstream and downstream industries of the domestic photovoltaic industry in the United States have raised doubts. Can frequent trade remedy measures solve the problem of the development of American photovoltaic industry itself? The facts are already there, and it is useless for the US to do so. In this case, it is better for the United States not to do or do less things that harm others and do no good to others, and sometimes even lift a rock to drop it on its own feet. In short, we hope that the US will handle the investigation carefully and terminate the investigation procedure as soon as possible. China will pay close attention to the progress of the case and reserve the right to take measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of China enterprises.
With regard to united steelworkers union’s application to start a "double-reverse" investigation on passenger cars and light truck tires in China, we would like to remind the US that it applied for a special safeguard investigation against China in 2009 for the same product, which caused serious negative impact and harm to Sino-US economic and trade relations. We hope that the US can learn from the 2009 tire special safeguard case, not abuse the relief investigation, and create a good atmosphere for trade cooperation in related industries between the two countries.
[Shen Danyang]: Today’s press conference is over. Thank you.