New Guideline Aims to Trade up

Jun 09-2022   

China’s State Council recently unveiled a guideline which lays out 13 targeted measures to assist foreign-trade enterprises to access unimpeded logistics, expand markets, and lower costs. Prof. Yu Miaojie, Associate Dean of the NSD, was interviewed by the overseas edition of People’s Daily on relevant topics.

He noticed that despite increased sales volume, some foreign-trade firms have had a hard time absorbing rising costs of raw materials and transportation over the last two years. That is what the guideline aims to address. Oversight of international maritime shipping will be stepped up to root out unfair competition, illegal pricing, and monopolistic behaviors.

To support the steady development of the processing trade, the guideline says that labor-intensive foreign-trade industries should be encouraged to relocate to China’s interior regions in a tiered manner. Prof. Yu applauded the move, believing that labor-intensive products that have high added value and rely on a complete industry chain are suitable for manufacturing in mid and western China. Most of the country’s industrial cities, he pointed out, are distinctly characterized by industrial clustering, which, coupled with complete industry chains, will bear out the international competitiveness of the industrial systems of mid and western cities.

On the guideline’s focus on facilitating the export of innovative, green and high value-added products, Prof. Yu said that this will spur companies to manufacture and export low energy-consuming products and clean energy trade products, including renewable energies such as hydropower and wind power, to lead to a wider variety of trade categories.