Global Times: 

The pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the traditional way of trade, while new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce have played a vital role in ensuring orders, markets, and market shares. Can you please tell us more about new modes of foreign trade in 2021? Thank you. 

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for your question. New business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement are an important part of China's foreign trade, and they also reflect a key trend in international trade development. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, China's cross-border e-commerce has unleashed its strength in online marketing, online transaction, and contactless delivery, grown its new strength in international cooperation and competition, and has thus registered rapid and sustained growth in foreign trade. 

First, in terms of cross-border e-commerce, B2B export pilot programs have been expanded, and the China-Europe freight trains have developed in tandem with new business forms such as goods consolidation and transit trade. In order to help export enterprises engaged in cross-border e-commerce to better tap into the international market, the B2B export supervision pilot program regarding cross-border e-commerce was expanded to customs across China in the latter half of 2021, with supporting policies being constantly improved. Meanwhile, cross-border e-commerce railways, including those from the China-SCO cooperation demo area to Minsk in Belarus, from Yiwu and Suzhou to Europe, and from Hefei to Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven in Germany, opened and began regular operations, resulting in the integrated development of China-Europe freight train and cross-border e-commerce. Data shows that cross-border e-commerce registered a trade volume of 1.98 trillion yuan in 2021, increasing 15% year on year. Exports of cross-border e-commerce reached 1.44 trillion yuan, rising 24.5% year on year. 

Second, the export volume through market procurement trade has exceeded 900 billion yuan. As China expands its national market procurement pilots, the figure in 2021 amounted to 930.4 billion yuan, up 32.1%, accounting for 4.3% of the total export of the same period and driving exports growth by 1.3 percentage points. Thank you.