Processing trade is the most important type of foreign trade in China. This article analyzes China's customs data and finds that China's processing trade is gradually undergoing changes. The total amount of China's foreign trade is constantly increasing, while the total amount of processing trade has stagnated, causing a continuous decline in its proportion. This phenomenon reflects a certain structural change in China's foreign trade. This article summarizes a few reasons for the changes in China's processing trade through interviews and researches.
This article proposes the following enlightenments brought by the changes in China's processing trade.
1. We should have a clearer understanding of the basic characteristics of China's current foreign trade. It is gradually moving away from low value-added features, and Chinese manufacturing is no longer criticized as low-technology or low-quality.
2. The changes in China's processing trade are strongly related to the product structure of China's foreign trade.
3. Currently, various regions of China are facing widespread pressure from labor costs raise and industrial relocation demand.
4. The relative decline in processing trade orders does not mean that they are no longer important, but rather that as processing trade becomes relatively less, orders shift from processing trade to other trade methods, and manufacturing enterprises are therefore less restricted.
