SCIO briefing on China's imports, exports in Q1 2026

21st Century Business Herald:

This year's government work report proposed "facilitating the expansion, upgrading, and well-regulated, well-planned growth of the 'cross-border e-commerce plus overseas warehouses' model." Could you brief us on the performance of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in the first quarter of this year, and what measures the customs will take to promote the well-regulated, well-planned growth of cross-border e-commerce? Thank you.

Wang Jun:

Thank you. I would like to invite my colleague, Mr. Lyu, to answer your questions.

Lyu Daliang:

OK. China's cross-border e-commerce statistical survey is conducted on a semi-annual basis, with official data released in May and October. Here, I would like to provide some preliminary estimates for the first quarter. In the first quarter of this year, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 618.46 billion yuan, with exports amounting to 473.55 billion yuan and imports totaling 144.91 billion yuan.

This year's government work report has outlined arrangements to promote the orderly and standardized development of cross-border e-commerce. The customs authorities have earnestly implemented these arrangements, focusing on three areas.

First, based on previous pilot projects, starting April 1 of this year, the cross-customs-district return model for cross-border e-commerce retail exports has been fully rolled out across all customs districts nationwide. Under this business model, when cross-border e-commerce retail export goods are returned from overseas, enterprises can flexibly choose any port nationwide to handle the procedures for returning the goods into the country, effectively solving the industry's pain point of difficult returns.

Second, efforts have been made to innovate and support the "TIR + cross-border e-commerce" logistics model. TIR is short for Transports Internationaux Routiers, or International Road Transports. Goods transported under the TIR system are exempt from repeated inspections and transshipment throughout the contracting parties. This significantly reduces transportation time and logistics costs, enabling quality e-commerce products to reach households at home and abroad more efficiently.

Third, we have strengthened the collaborative governance between customs authorities and cross-border e-commerce enterprises. In collaboration with e-commerce platforms, we have jointly established "pre-positioned supervision warehouses." This involves moving customs supervision forward into the production and operation stages of enterprises. This approach not only ensures effective oversight but also greatly reduces customs clearance time and logistics costs, achieving dual improvements in supervision effectiveness and logistics efficiency.

Thank you.