According to Urumqi customs statistics, in the first half of this year, the total import and export value of Xinjiang's foreign trade was 220.63 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.4%. The semi-annual report on foreign trade handed over by Xinjiang shows the characteristics of sustained and stable growth of foreign trade in various prefectures and cities in Xinjiang, and the continuous progress of foreign trade growth mode towards stability and excellence, revealing the continuous improvement of Xinjiang's foreign trade.
On July 2, Yining Customs officers conducted on-site supervision of aquatic product enterprises in the jurisdiction. Photo by Zhu Ye
The growth rate of total foreign trade is significant
In the first half of this year, the total import and export value of Kashgar's foreign trade was 56.43 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 67.2 percent. Especially in the second quarter, the total import and export value of Kashgar's foreign trade reached 31.22 billion yuan, which was the first time that the quarterly scale of the region exceeded 30 billion yuan, an increase of 23.9% and 33% respectively over the first quarter and the fourth quarter of last year.
"In the first half of the year, Kashgar's foreign trade was stable and progressive, and it was new and better." Wang Xiping, director of the comprehensive business department of Kashgar Customs, said.
In the first half of the year, the import and export value of foreign trade in Kashgar ranked second in Xinjiang, and its development trend is a microcosm of the development of foreign trade in all parts of Xinjiang.
In the first half of the year, the import and export value of foreign trade in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture led all states and cities, with a year-on-year increase of 102.8%. The foreign trade value of Urumqi City and Bortala Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture ranked third and fourth respectively in Xinjiang, with a year-on-year increase of 9.9% and 28.6%.
"Judging from the data, the top three in Xinjiang's foreign trade are stable in Yili Prefecture, Kashgar Prefecture and Urumqi City, and the specific rankings are up and down each time." Wusman · Wumur, deputy director of the Institute of Economics of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said that this reveals that the pattern of three fulcrums in the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt has been formed.
In addition to the relatively stable top three in Xinjiang, the development of foreign trade in ports and hinterland prefectures and cities is also showing a trend of "you chase me". In the first half of the year, the import and export value of Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture and Hami City grew the fastest in Xinjiang, with a year-on-year increase of 212.3% and 184.2% respectively.
From these data, it can also be seen that the overall foreign trade of southern Xinjiang has shown rapid development, and the proportion of import and export trade volume of northern and southern Xinjiang has further decreased.
The overall development of foreign trade in Xinjiang has shown a remarkable growth rate in the total volume of foreign trade, the pattern of foreign trade geese array, and the rapid development of all localities at the same time.
Judging from the data released by Urumqi Customs in the first half of the year, in addition to the remarkable achievements made in the development of foreign trade in various prefectures and cities in Xinjiang, Xinjiang has also continued its good momentum in foreign cooperation.
In the first half of the year, Xinjiang traded with 205 countries and regions around the world. The imports and exports of the top two trading partners, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, increased by 45.8% and 8.7% year-on-year respectively.
On July 15, Kashgar customs officers supervised the belly of the direct flight from Hong Kong to Kashgar. Photo by Zhang Zhaohan
The cargo volume at the port has grown steadily
On July 17, after passing the inspection and supervision of Alashankou Customs, 21.3 tons of frozen beef from Kazakhstan entered the mainland from Alashankou Port. This is the first batch of frozen beef from Kazakhstan that has resumed domestic imports.
In the first half of the year, the import and export freight volume of Alashankou Port reached 13.84 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%, maintaining stable growth.
Sun Chao, a customs declaration officer of the customs declaration department of Alashankou Zhengmao International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd., said that the company's business this year includes road, railway, and comprehensive bonded zone freight forwarding services, and the business scope has been further expanded. Up to now, this year's import and export freight volume has exceeded 270,000 tons.
In the first half of the year, the freight volume of the Alashankou railway port grew rapidly, the import of bulk commodities through railway transportation increased, and the export of mechanical and electrical products became the main growth point of the highway port.
Since the beginning of this year, as Xinjiang has continuously increased the construction of port infrastructure and implemented reform and innovation measures, the role of Xinjiang's opening to the west has become increasingly prominent.
On June 8, Xinjiang Air Port imported Tajikistan lemons for the first time.
On June 6, Khunjerab port imported cherries for the first time.
In April, the Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone imported wheat flour for the first time.
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In the first half of the year, Xinjiang's aviation, railway, and highway ports made new breakthroughs in terms of import and export freight volume and import and export commodity varieties. The "growth rate" of import and export of various logistics and transportation modes is competing.
In the first half of the year, the import and export value of Xinjiang's road, waterway, railway and air transport increased by 14.8 percent, 257.2 percent, 62.4 percent and 18 percent year-on-year respectively.
Liang Hao, manager of Horgos Equiom International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd., entered a foreign trade enterprise in 2020, mainly doing freight forwarding services. At that time, his company had only a dozen people and could only export more than 10 vehicles a day. Today, his company has expanded from freight forwarding to international transportation and vehicle sales, not only selling vehicles directly to the Central Asian and Russia markets, but also repairing and maintaining vehicles for export abroad.
"This year, it is expected to act as an agent for more than 15,000 export vehicles and sell more than 1,000 vehicles." Liang Hao said.
In the first half of the year, the import and export freight volume supervised by Xinjiang ports was 39.338 million tons, an increase of 11.9% year-on-year.
On June 13, China's largest bus order for Kyrgyzstan was delivered. Photo by Xia Yongtao
The main body of foreign trade is more vigorous
This year, Russia businessman Gasanov · Ogley chose to register a business in Khorgos for the export of cars. He didn't expect to get a business license in just one day. This made him praise the local business environment again and again.
"Now the Russia market has a very large demand for Chinese cars, and we are very optimistic about the market prospects." Gasanov · Ogley said.
According to the statistics of the Khorgos Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, in the first half of 2024, 682 new enterprises will be established in the Khorgos area of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, including 8 foreign-funded enterprises.
In the first half of the year, the number of foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance in Xinjiang increased by 20.7% year-on-year.
Since the establishment of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the proportion of the trade value of the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone in Xinjiang's total foreign trade value has gradually increased. In the first half of the year, the total import and export value of the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone was 72.82 billion yuan, accounting for 33% of the total import and export value of Xinjiang's foreign trade in the same period.
As the main body of the foreign trade industry, foreign trade enterprises have continuously released their vitality since the beginning of this year with the support of various policies and measures of the autonomous region.
On July 12, Artush Wanjiang Pastoral Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. successfully obtained the registration certificate of outbound fruit orchards and packaging plants. This is the first successful registration of an outbound fruit orchard in Kezhou this year.
The company's outbound fruit orchards cover an area of 5,620 acres, including 5,380 acres of vineyards, 240 acres of fig orchards, and 300 square meters of outbound fruit packaging plants. This means that the grapes and figs produced in this orchard are eligible for export.
Wen Wu, deputy director of Turgate Customs, said that according to Article 16 of the Customs' Optimization of the Business Environment, Turgat Customs facilitates the export registration and filing of export agricultural product planting bases and production and processing enterprises, and supports Kezhou's advantageous and characteristic agricultural products to "go global".
In the first half of the year, the import and export value of private enterprises with high operational flexibility and strong market adaptability increased by 47.6% year-on-year, accounting for 93.3% of the total import and export value of Xinjiang's foreign trade in the same period, and the role of foreign trade as a new force became more prominent. The import and export value of state-owned enterprises increased by 62.5% year-on-year. The import and export value of foreign-invested enterprises increased by 25.3% year-on-year.
Usman · Wumur said that in the face of the complex situation at home and abroad, Xinjiang's foreign trade import and export still maintained a high-speed growth trend, and throughout the year's development, it is expected that Xinjiang's foreign trade will continue to maintain a good development momentum in the second half of the year under the support of favorable factors such as the continuous recovery of external demand and the continuous release of policy dividends.
Source: Shi Jiuyun/Xinjiang Daily