At present, the decline of processing trade in some areas is only a temporary phenomenon in the process of industrial restructuring, and it is not appropriate to simply limit or let it develop. Instead, we should correctly guide and actively adjust the development of processing trade, and combine the adjustment of industrial structure to make processing trade adapt to China's long-term strategic interests and key development goals. This is the future development direction of processing trade.
Inevitability of Long-term Development of Processing Trade in China
Processing trade usually refers to the way of trade with two ends in the outside and the middle, that is, importing raw materials or parts from abroad, processing and assembling them at home and exporting the finished products to the international market. From the perspective of external conditions and internal development needs, it has profound inevitability for China to develop processing trade.
From the external conditions, the differences of international production factors and the performance of products in different stages of life cycle provide a theoretical basis for the development of China's processing trade. Economic globalization and international division of labor and cooperation provide the background for the development of processing trade in China. In the fierce international competition, in order to implement the global strategy, multinational companies strive to find low-cost production sites, which provides operating space for China to develop processing trade. China should conform to this trend, accept international industrial transfer, develop processing trade and become an important export processing base in the world.
From the perspective of internal development needs, China's comparative advantages in international division of labor are still concentrated in land, cheap labor, abundant raw materials and industrial sectors with a certain foundation and complete categories. By developing processing trade, we can give full play to China's comparative advantages, participate in the international division of labor as soon as possible, and accelerate the technological progress and industrial restructuring of these industries. At the same time, after China's accession to the WTO, the gradual liberalization of trade and investment will also give China's processing trade a broader development space. Processing trade still has great development potential in China. If we ignore our national conditions and forcibly exclude the development of processing trade, it will only cause great losses to our economy. At present, the export of processing trade accounts for about 50% of China's total export. In processing trade, foreign-invested enterprises have become the main body of processing trade, and 84% of the exports of foreign-invested enterprises adopt processing trade, accounting for 2/3 of all processing trade exports. There are more than 30 million employees in processing trade. Processing trade has created a sales market of 1/4 for the manufacturing industry in coastal areas.
Therefore, in line with the development trend of the world economy and considering the national conditions of China, China's processing trade will continue to develop further in the future, and it will surely exist in China for a long time.
Unfavorable factors affecting the sustainable development of processing trade in China
1. The labor-intensive processing trade mode makes the processing trade lack of growth potential.
China's processing trade is still in the traditional development stage, with a low level of development and low technical content, and the export products are still mainly labor-intensive. Even the processing trade of high-tech industries is mainly concentrated in the labor-intensive part of producing high-tech products. At present, many developing countries are vigorously attracting foreign investment and developing processing trade. This will inevitably lead to competing with China for processing trade projects, and the labor force in many developing countries is cheaper, so the labor-intensive processing trade model will be challenged by developing countries more and more.
At present, high-tech industries in developed countries are developing rapidly and are beginning to transfer to developing countries and regions. The main part of China's processing trade is in the development stage of simple processing and assembly, and it lacks the ability to undertake processing projects in some foreign high-tech production links, which is not conducive to the rapid growth of China's processing trade.
2. Some modes of operation are not conducive to adjusting the structure of processing trade and improving the processing trade capacity.
Processing trade is an important form of utilizing foreign capital in China. However, in the processing trade, especially the processing of incoming materials, foreign-invested enterprises completely control the market and sales channels, strictly control key technologies, and leave the development capacity of most technical products abroad, while China only participates in simple processing and assembly. Some foreign-invested enterprises even transfer industries with low technical level and serious environmental pollution to our country for production, which has brought disastrous consequences to our environment. In addition, the processing trade is dominated by foreign-invested enterprises, which leads to the failure to give full play to China's original huge industrial base and technical base, and affects the improvement of the processing capacity of the whole processing trade.
3. Some regional distribution of processing trade has hindered the rapid development of processing trade.
At present, China's processing trade is mainly concentrated in the southeast coastal areas, and is mainly labor-intensive. However, the southeast coastal areas are facing the adverse effects of rising labor costs. Moreover, the proportion of labor-intensive processing trade in the southeast coastal areas is too large, which seriously affects the structural adjustment of processing trade in the southeast coastal areas and the ability to undertake high-tech processing projects transferred from abroad, thus seriously affecting the promotion and expansion of processing trade in China.
4. The low quality of materials and related industries weakens the attraction of China's processing trade to foreign investment.
Some foreign-funded enterprises are trying to transfer the production of spare parts to China to reduce the production cost, but the proportion of local procurement in processing trade is still very low, because the development of raw materials and related industries in China lags behind, and domestic enterprises can not meet the requirements of foreign businessmen in the production cost, quality stability and delivery cycle of spare parts. Therefore, the processing trade projects of foreign-funded enterprises in China are mainly attracted by cheap labor and preferential policies. If the preferential policies for foreign-funded enterprises are abolished, the inflow of foreign capital will inevitably decrease, and the sustainable development of China's processing trade will be affected.
China processing trade
Countermeasures for sustainable development
Only by closely combining processing trade with China's industrial structure adjustment can we ensure the healthy and stable development of processing trade. To this end, we should focus on the following aspects.
1. Vigorously develop processing trade of high-tech products and improve the structure of export commodities.
Vigorously developing the processing trade of high-tech products will greatly accelerate the transformation and upgrading of China's industrial structure to high-tech industries, improve the structure of export commodities, and avoid the emergence of "immiserizing growth" in processing trade. Due to the large working population in urban and rural areas and the great employment pressure, labor-intensive export processing industry will continue to exist. Therefore, while continuing to develop the existing processing trade, we should choose an open development model, greatly reduce the import tariffs of high-tech products mainly based on information technology products, join the WTO Agreement on Information Technology Products, and learn from the experience of foreign science and technology industrial parks to build qualified high-tech industrial development zones into standardized high-tech industrial export processing zones, thus having a strong demonstration effect on the overall breakthrough of China's high-tech industries.
2. Take the localization of intermediate inputs as a link to promote the upgrading of domestic industrial structure.
Localization of intermediate inputs in processing trade can reduce the purchasing cost of foreign investors, promote the production and export of upstream industrial products, extend the industrial chain, improve the processing depth and promote the upgrading of industrial structure in China. Therefore, the localization of intermediate inputs in processing trade is not only necessary but also possible. However, the information, policies, transportation and other problems reflected by foreign investors, as well as the lack of pioneering and innovative spirit of domestic enterprises and poor financing channels, have seriously hindered domestic intermediate inputs from entering the processing trade market. The key to solve this problem is to adjust the relevant industrial policies. The production and development of basic materials and parts in China's basic industries (including machinery, electronics, chemical industry, etc.) is a long-term unsolved problem. ) is lagging behind, and policies such as price, investment and taxation are almost all inclined to downstream final products. If the "discriminatory policy" against intermediate inputs is not fundamentally reversed, it will be difficult to realize the import substitution of intermediate inputs in processing trade. Therefore, the relevant departments should start from two aspects. On the one hand, they should attract foreign investment into the parts manufacturing industry, and the entry of core enterprises will drive the entry of their supporting enterprises. On the other hand, they should try their best to promote the independent development and innovation of new products. The optimization of the production structure of China's processing trade ultimately depends on the development of innovative products and the application of new materials, new processes and new equipment.
3. Establish export processing zones and conduct centralized supervision over processing trade.
Through the establishment of export processing zones, processing trade enterprises will be guided to move to export processing zones, and the import and export products of enterprises operating in export processing zones will be bonded, so as to open up the product range of processing trade, attract a large number of foreign investment, improve the quality of processing trade and create a good atmosphere for the development of processing trade. At present, the development of labor-intensive processing trade in eastern China is slowing down, and high-tech processing trade has the conditions for development. However, the comparative advantage of the labor force in the central and western regions has not been fully exerted, and labor-intensive processing trade still has great development potential in the central and western regions. Therefore, export processing zones of high-tech industries should be established in the southeast coastal areas, and labor-intensive export processing zones should be established in the central and western regions to undertake some labor-intensive processing industries transferred from the southeast coastal areas.
4. Establish a comprehensive management system of processing trade in line with international standards in accordance with the relevant guidelines of the World Trade Organization.
The management of processing trade involves many policies such as trade, finance, taxation, foreign exchange and industry. , and involves a number of administrative departments, industries and links, which need to be managed together and comprehensively managed. At present, the competent department has established a ministerial-level processing trade federation, which has promoted the establishment of a comprehensive management system for processing trade. Customs, industry and commerce, taxation, banking, foreign trade and other departments should work together to strengthen the comprehensive management of processing trade. What needs to be emphasized is that it is necessary for China to establish a comprehensive management system of processing trade that is in line with international standards, and to amend the provisions that are not in line with the World Trade Organization guidelines, so as to conform to the internationally accepted standards.