Shenzhen foreign trade promotes ＂Made in China＂ to the world.

Total import and export volume of Shenzhen from 1979 to 2017

The proportion of Shenzhen’s high-tech products exports to the total exports in 2012-2017

Proportion of mechanical and electrical products exports in total exports in Shenzhen from 2012 to 2017

Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, December 17, 2018-In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, with the continuous expansion of opening up, Shenzhen’s foreign trade has achieved a historic leap, the total import and export volume has increased rapidly, the trade mode has become more reasonable, the product structure has been continuously optimized, and the trade market has become increasingly diversified. Opening up and trade have played an important role in promoting Shenzhen’s economic and social development.

one

Foreign trade has achieved a historic leap.

The scale of import and export ranks second in mainland cities, and the scale of export ranks first in mainland cities for 25 consecutive years. From 1979 to 2017, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen increased from US$ 16.76 million to US$ 413.95 billion, an increase of 8,545 times, with an average annual growth rate of 26.9%, which was 12.4 percentage points higher than the national average annual growth rate, and the total import and export volume ranked second in mainland cities. Among them, the total export volume increased from 9.3 million US dollars to 244.221 billion US dollars, an increase of 9,565 times, with an average annual growth rate of 27.3%, and the export scale ranked first in mainland cities for 25 consecutive years; The total import volume increased from US$ 7.46 million to US$ 169.729 billion, an increase of 7435 times, with an average annual growth rate of 26.4%.

The proportion of total import and export in the whole country and the whole province has greatly increased. After nearly 40 years’ development, the proportion of Shenzhen’s total import and export in the whole country and the whole province has greatly increased from a negligible amount in 1979 to 10.1% and 41.1% in 2017, of which the proportion of total exports in the whole country and the whole province has increased to 10.8% and 39.2% respectively, and the proportion of total imports in the whole country and the whole province has increased to 9.2% and 44.2% respectively. Shenzhen’s total import and export volume has greatly increased, which shows that Shenzhen’s import and export has played an increasingly important role in China’s foreign trade development.

2

The development characteristics of each stage are obvious.

Looking back on the development of Shenzhen’s foreign trade in the past 40 years, we can see that the development of Shenzhen’s foreign trade has gone through three stages. The development of each stage is in harmony with the overall development of China’s economy, adapted to the domestic and international environment at the same time, and inseparable from the changes in the opening-up policy, which plays an irreplaceable role in the development of Shenzhen in various periods.

(A) 1979-1992, the high-speed growth stage

During this period, Shenzhen actively expanded its opening up, and through a series of opening-up measures, such as building ports, attracting investment, creating bonded industrial zones, setting up a number of foreign trade backbone enterprises, and opening ports and ports, it quickly formed an export-oriented economy with industry as the mainstay and combining industry and trade. At this stage, the import and export scale of Shenzhen increased from $16.76 million in 1979 to $23.577 billion in 1992, with an average annual growth rate of 61.0%, of which the export scale increased from $9.3 million in 1979 to $12 billion in 1992, with an average annual growth rate of 60.6%. The import scale increased from $7.46 million in 1979 to $11.575 billion in 1992, with an average annual increase of 61.5%. In 1987, the export scale of Shenzhen exceeded the import scale, reversing the trade deficit for four consecutive years from 1983 to 1986. By 1988, the total export volume of Shenzhen ranked second in large and medium-sized cities in China, and by 1992, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen ranked first in large and medium-sized cities in China.

(B) 1993-2012, the rapid growth stage

In 1992, after Comrade Deng Xiaoping visited the South, China’s reform and opening-up was further deepened, and Shenzhen’s opening-up entered a brand-new stage. Especially after 2001, with China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, Shenzhen’s foreign trade expanded rapidly. At this stage, the scale of Shenzhen’s import and export further expanded, with the total import and export volume increasing from 23.577 billion US dollars in 1992 to 466.830 billion US dollars in 2012, of which the total export volume increased from 12.000 billion US dollars in 1992 to 271.362 billion US dollars in 2012, ranking first among mainland cities for 25 consecutive years from 1993 to 2017. The total import volume increased from $11.575 billion in 1992 to $195.469 billion in 1992. In this stage, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen exceeded $50 billion for the first time in 1999, $100 billion in 2003, $200 billion in 2006, $300 billion in 2010, $400 billion in 2011 and $466.830 billion in 2012. Judging from the development of each year, the total import and export volume decreased only in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, and all other years maintained a high growth rate, especially in 2002-2007, when Shenzhen’s export trade developed fastest, with an average annual growth rate of 27.0%.

(C) 2013-2017, the stage of steady growth.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Shenzhen has persisted in deepening reform and opening wider to the outside world, actively responded to a series of major risk challenges such as the follow-up impact of the international financial crisis, and strived to adapt to the new normal of foreign trade development. The import and export situation is good and has entered a stage of steady growth.

After the rapid development of the previous stage and some special factors, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen has declined for three consecutive years since 2014, and by 2017, the import and export growth rate of Shenzhen has turned from negative to positive, achieving positive growth. In 2017, the total import and export volume of Shenzhen was US$ 413.95 billion, RMB-denominated 2,801.146 billion, up 6.4% year-on-year, of which the total export volume was US$ 244.221 billion, RMB-denominated 1,653.357 billion, up 5.5% year-on-year; The total import value was US$ 169.729 billion, with RMB-denominated value of RMB 1,147.789 billion, up by 7.9% year-on-year.

three

Continuous optimization of import and export structure

Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 1990s, the import and export structure of Shenzhen has been constantly adjusted and optimized, mainly in two aspects:

(A) the mode of trade is becoming more reasonable, from single to diversified.

Since the 1980s, Shenzhen has expanded its efforts to attract investment, and actively developed "three-for-one-supplement" enterprises and "three-capital" enterprises by using overseas capital and technology, which greatly promoted the development of foreign trade. The proportion of processing trade exports in total exports has gradually increased from 38.7% in 1987 to 56.5% in 2011. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, focusing on restructuring, constantly cultivating new advantages in foreign trade competition, and accelerating the adjustment, transformation and upgrading of the trade structure of goods, the export proportion of processing trade in Shenzhen began to decline slowly, from 53.0% in 2012 to 34.8% in 2017, while the export proportion of general trade rose from 28.0% in 2012 to 43.1% in 2017.

With the expansion of opening to the outside world and the development of foreign trade, Shenzhen’s trade mode has changed to diversification. The mode of foreign trade has gradually developed from processing trade to barter trade, small-scale border trade, export goods of foreign contracted projects, leasing trade, goods entering and leaving bonded supervision places, logistics goods in special customs supervision areas, imported equipment in special supervision areas, and free assistance and gifts from countries and international organizations. In 2017, the top three modes of trade in the city’s export proportion were: general trade exports accounted for 43.2%, processing trade exports accounted for 34.8%, and logistics goods exports in special customs supervision areas accounted for 9.2%.

(B) continuous optimization of product structure, from primary products to electromechanical products, and then to high-tech products.

In the early days of reform and opening up, Shenzhen’s export commodities were mainly primary products, mainly including grain, meat and clothing. For example, in 1990, live pigs for meat and clothing grew rapidly, up by 42.4% and 81.0% respectively, while the export volume of mechanical and electrical products in the same period was not too large, but the growth potential appeared, such as the export of TV sets, tape recorders and telephones increased by 16.8%, 23.1% and 24.1% respectively.

In the 1990s, the structure of Shenzhen’s export products changed greatly. The export of finished products with high added value increased greatly, and the export changed from primary products to mechanical and electrical products. In 1990, the export of mechanical and electrical products in Shenzhen exceeded US$ 1 billion, but it accounted for a low proportion of the city’s exports, about 30%. After China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, the proportion has been increasing, reaching 69.2% in 2002, exceeding 70% in 2003, and the proportion has been above 70% since then. The highest in 2015 reached 82.2%, and in 2017 it was 75.9%. From 1990 to 2017, China’s exports of mechanical and electrical products increased from about $1 billion to $185.275 billion, an increase of 184.3 times. In 2017, the export of mechanical and electrical products in Shenzhen accounted for more than 14% of the country, which contributed to China’s position as the world’s largest exporter of mechanical and electrical products for nine consecutive years.

Since the 21st century, the export proportion of high-tech products represented by electronics and information technology has been increasing, and the import and export trade of high-tech products has become a strong growth point of Shenzhen’s foreign trade for some time to come. In 2002, the export of high-tech products in Shenzhen accounted for 33.7% of the total export, reached 40.0% in 2003, and then remained at around 40%. In 2009, the proportion exceeded 50% for the first time, reaching 52.5%. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, this proportion has remained at around 50%. It reached the highest level of 58.0% in 2013 and 46.7% in 2017. Among high-tech products, aerospace technology and life science and technology products grew rapidly. In 2017, their exports increased by 52.0% and 21.5% respectively.

four

Import and export markets are increasingly diversified.

Since the reform and opening up, the number of countries and regions that have trade with Shenzhen has gradually increased. From 1990 to 2017, Shenzhen’s trading partners have grown from 61 to 239 countries and regions, and have trade with most countries and regions in the world. The top 10 trading partners of Shenzhen are: Hong Kong, ASEAN, the United States, the European Union, Taiwan Province, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. In 2017, the total import and export volume of these 10 countries and regions accounted for 83.4% of the city’s total import and export volume, of which the import and export volume of Hong Kong, ASEAN and the United States accounted for 23.4%, 13.2% and 10.4% respectively. In 2017, Shenzhen’s import and export to Hong Kong, China was 96.879 billion US dollars, down 8.1%; Imports and exports to ASEAN reached US$ 54.622 billion, up by 16.7%; Imports and exports to the United States reached US$ 43.147 billion, up by 13.2%; Imports and exports to the EU reached US$ 40.59 billion, up by 7.2%; Imports and exports to Taiwan, China reached US$ 33.413 billion, up by 5.9%.

At the Central Economic Work Conference in 2014, the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward. Over the past few years, the construction of the "Belt and Road" has changed from concept to action, from vision to reality, and has achieved fruitful results. From 2014 to 2017, the total import and export trade between Shenzhen and countries or regions along the Belt and Road Initiative accounted for about 20% of the city. With Shenzhen actively serving and accelerating its integration into the national "One Belt, One Road" initiative and comprehensively improving the level of open economy, the "One Belt, One Road" has enhanced its role in tapping and enhancing Shenzhen’s foreign trade development potential. In 2017, Shenzhen imported and exported 542.28 billion yuan to countries along the "Belt and Road", up 16.4% year-on-year, which was 10.0 percentage points higher than the total import and export growth rate of Shenzhen in the same period; Among them, the export was 307.71 billion yuan, up by 13.2%, which was 7.7 percentage points higher than that of Shenzhen in the same period. The import and export trade between Shenzhen and countries or regions along the Belt and Road Initiative has become a bright spot in China’s foreign trade development.

After 40 years of development since the reform and opening up, Shenzhen’s foreign trade volume has been greatly improved, its structure has been continuously optimized, and its development achievements have been remarkable. However, due to the unresolved deep-seated structural contradictions in the world economy, Sino-US trade friction has escalated and uncertainties in foreign trade have increased. Facing the future, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, we will stick to the road of openness, accommodation and mutual benefit. Accelerate the transformation and upgrading of trade, promote the innovation and development of trade, actively cultivate new formats and models of foreign trade, change the development mode of foreign trade, improve the quality and efficiency of trade development, and promote the construction of all-round opening-up pattern and the transformation to high-quality development.

(Contributed by Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Statistics)