Behind the impressive growth rate of Henan's foreign trade "report card" in the first two months, these highlights are worth paying attention to

On March 16th, workers were busy in the production workshop of new energy vehicle parts at Henan Huaihai Jingcheng Industrial Technology Co., Ltd. located in Huiting Town, Xiayi County, Shangqiu City. Photo by Wang Chaochao from Henan Daily

At the beginning of the 15th Five Year Plan, Henan's foreign trade has delivered a remarkable performance.

On March 16th, Zhengzhou Customs released data showing that in the first two months of this year, the import and export volume of foreign trade in our province reached 173.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.2%, 9.9 percentage points higher than the national growth rate during the same period, and the import and export scale reached a new historical high for the same period in our province.

In the complex international economic and trade environment, this impressive "report card" is hard won, demonstrating the strong resilience and vitality of Henan's foreign trade. Industry insiders generally believe that this is due to Henan's deep efforts in optimizing its foreign trade structure, diversifying its market layout, and transforming old and new driving forces. In the trend of a good start, there are many highlights worth paying attention to.

Let's first look at what Henan sells. Nowadays, our province is selling green and intelligent new products to more overseas new friends.

From the perspective of export products, there is a clear trend towards "new" and "green" products, and "Made in Henan" is accelerating towards higher end of the value chain. In Zhengzhou International Land Port, new energy vehicles queue up to take the China Europe freight train; In the Zhonglian Heavy Industry Kaifeng Industrial Park, high-end tractors that break through the technological barriers between Europe and America are about to be sent to countries such as Romania and Bulgaria; In places such as Shangqiu and Xinxiang, refrigeration equipment and upstream and downstream enterprises have achieved cluster overseas expansion; A group of private enterprises, such as Super Fusion, are seizing the new track and enriching their export categories... In the first two months of this year, the export growth rate of Henan's "new three types" products reached 178.9%; The export of high-end equipment, biopharmaceuticals and other products has shown double-digit growth.

In terms of export markets, Henan continues to expand its trading partners and "circle of friends", effectively hedging against the risks brought by a single market.

At the beginning of this year, the "circle of friends" of foreign trade professionals such as Bian Europe Import and Export Trade and Steel Beauty Furniture always positioned themselves overseas, leaving footprints of Henan people in many places such as Europe and the Middle East; During the Spring Festival, many foreign trade managers travel overseas to attend exhibitions and meet the needs of new market customers.

Proactively expanding the market and providing strong support for the basic market of Henan's foreign trade. In the first two months of this year, our province's total imports and exports to the top five markets amounted to 86.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.3%. Among them, imports and exports to ASEAN amounted to 22.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.8%; Imports and exports to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" and other RCEP member countries were 75.81 billion yuan and 45.85 billion yuan respectively, up 14.3% and 11.9% year on year respectively.

Let's take a look at what Henan has bought. In the first two months of this year, our province imported 71.56 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.7%. Among them, imported metal ore was 12.64 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.3%; The zero accessories of imported automatic data processing equipment amounted to 3.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.8 times. This reflects the continuous expansion of production demand and the sustained release of market consumption vitality in our province, "said the person in charge of the Statistical Analysis Department of Zhengzhou Customs.

On the production side, the import of key raw materials and components provides strong support for the transformation, upgrading, capacity expansion, and quality improvement of our province's advanced manufacturing industry. Taking Henan Longhu Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd. located in Zhengzhou Airport Zone as an example, since its establishment last year, the company has focused on related businesses such as bonded warehousing, import and export agency, and production manufacturing. Our imported products mainly involve raw materials for servers, which accurately meet the development needs of Henan's digital industry. In the future, we will build a smart factory in the airport area, "said the person in charge of the enterprise.

On the consumer side, the explosive sales of imported goods demonstrate the enormous potential of the consumer market in Henan and even across the country. During the peak consumption season before and after the Spring Festival, the "overseas shopping" warehouse in Xinzheng Comprehensive Bonded Zone continues to ship goods. In the past two years, there has been a significant increase in the number of consumers purchasing clean travel equipment for short distance trips, which has driven the synchronous growth of logistics demand for related imported goods, "said the person in charge of the Inspection Department of Xinzheng Customs, a subsidiary of Zhengzhou Customs. In the first two months of this year, Xinzheng Customs supervised the import of cleaning products worth 140 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.6%.

Having a good start requires taking advantage of the momentum. Faced with the increasing uncertainty and unpredictable factors in the global economic and trade situation, our province will continue to make efforts from multiple sources this year to promote the stable and high-quality improvement of foreign trade volume. Next, we will focus on institutional innovation to empower the development of an open economy. At the same time, we will closely monitor the international economic and trade environment, strengthen policy support, optimize enterprise services, focus on cultivating entities, strengthen trade management, and help Henan enterprises diversify their international markets through exhibitions and other means. We will also assist Henan in building a pivot for foreign trade that connects the country and the world, "said a person in charge of the Provincial Department of Commerce.