Market

On August 4， the Ministry of Commerce held the regular press conference， and the spokesman Shan Danyang responded to some hot and sensitive issues highly concerned by the media domestic and overseas as what follows below：

Q： We all pay close attention to Chinas economic and trade cooperation with countries alongside “One Belt and One Road”. Could you introduce us the latest progress in the first half of 2015？

A： In the first half year， Chinas economic and trade cooperation with the countries alongside “Belt and Road”witnessed a steady promotion and active progress， and both the overall progress and results were better than the expected.

In terms of the foreign trade， the bilateral trade volume between China and the countries alongside “belt and road”reached US$ 485.37 billion， down 8.4% year on year， accounting for 25.8% of the total amount of import and export of China in the same period. Among that， export to the countries alongside was US$ 295.77 billion， up 1.9%， accounting for 27.6% of the total export； the import from the countries alongside reached US$ 189.6 billion， down 20.9%， accounting for 23.4% of the total import.

In terms of foreign investment absorbing， 948 enterprises invested by the countries alongside the “Belt and Road”were set in China， up 10.62% year on year； the actual foreign investment input reached US$ 3.67 billion， up 4.15% year on year. In terms of the invested industries， the actual foreign investment input of information transmission， computer service and software， finance， leasing and commercial service industry enjoyed a great growth， up 116.54%， 1262.15% and 150.02% year on year respectively. In terms of the investment distribution in regions， Shanghai， Jiangsu and Shandong witnessed high weights， accounting for 22.24%， 16.04% and 7.84% respectively. In terms of the countries， the actual investment input from Malaysia， Saudi Arabia， Poland， Russia and Slovak Republic witnessed a high growth， up 135.51%， 697.27%， 3621.92%， 129.36% and 196.67% respectively.

In terms of direct outward investment， Chinas enterprises invested directly to 48 countries alongside the “belt and road”， with the investment volume totaled US$ 7.05 billion， up 22% year on year， accounting for 15.3% of Chinas nonfinancial direct outward investment. The investment mainly flowed to Singapore， Indonesia， Laos， Russia， Kazakhstan and Thailand.

In terms of foreign contracted projects， Chinese enterprises contracted for 1，401 projects in 60 countries alongside the “belt and road”， and the newly signed contracts volume reached US$ 37.55 billion， accounting for 43.3% of Chinas newly signed contracts of foreign contracted projects in the same period， up 16.7% year on year. Among that， there were 137 newly signed projects whose contract volume exceeded US$ 50 million， with the accumulated contract volume reaching US$ 30.9 billion， mainly covering electric power project， communication engineering， housing construction， transportation and petrochemical engineering； the completed turnover reached US$ 29.7 billion， accounting for 44% of the total completed turnover of Chinas contract- ed foreign projects in the same period， up 5.4% year on year.

In terms of service outsourcing， the service outsourcing contracts signed by Chinese enterprises and the countries alongside the “Belt and Road” reached US$ 7.06 billion， with the executive volume US$ 4.83 billion， up 17% and 4.1% year on year. Among that， the service outsourcing contracts with Southeast Asian countries reached US$ 4.03 billion， with the executive volume US$ 2.93 billion， up 18.2% and 9.1% respectively. Because of the slow economic recovery of the EU and the U.S.， the business from traditional contracting countries slowed down compared with that of the same period of the previous years. Chinese enterprises is speeding up the business in the countries alongside the “belt and road” and expanding new markets of outsourcing with initial success.

Q： We learned from the website of the Ministry of Commerce that， recently， led by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance， Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei had a study and discussion on the pilot work of promoting logistics standardization. Could you introduce us the progress of the pilot work？ Besides， what specific measures would the Ministry of Commerce take to promote the standardization level of logistics in the area of Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei？

A： To improve the standardization level of regional logistics in Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei Province， the MOFCOM， Ministry of Finance and the Standardization Administration chose Beijing as the pilot city of logistics standardization in 2014. Preliminary innovative fruits like the joint union of enterprises and efficiency improvement of logistics unit have been made.

In order to carry out the logistics standards in wider areas and improve its universality， cooperativity and cohesion of standardization， the above three departments chose Tianjin， Shijiazhuang and Tangshan as pilot cities in the vicinity of Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei province to better promote and improve the standardization level of regional logistics in the area.. At present， Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei province are making active efforts to step up the work and plan to establish work union of logistic standardization. Four major work will be done： firstly， making coordinate policies and good matchmaking； secondly， striving for connectivity of public information service platform for the standardization work； thirdly， realizing mutual recognition of the facilities and technology， circulation norms and credit system； fourthly， sharing the statistics analysis results.

Next， the MOFCOM will push forward to strengthen the guide of logistics standardization work in Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei province， arousing the enterprises enthusiasm for promoting to popularize and apply the standards， guiding upstream and downstream enterprises along the supply chains to jointly promote the standardization and improving regional logistics standardization level. Meanwhile， reflection and summaries will be made， associations will make full play of their roles to actively build exchange platforms in Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei province to popularize innovative and typical cases experience.

Q： Recently， Wal-Mart Stores， Inc. announced to have acquired the rest equity of No. 1 Shop （an online supermarket） and wholly owned the shop. How would you comment on it？

A： With the approval of the State Council， the MOFCOM and National Development and Reform Commission released the new version of Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries （Revised， 2015） in March to lift the restriction on equity percentage of foreign investment in E-commerce area. We have noticed that the Wal-Mart announced to acquire and own the whole equity of No. Shop on July 23， 2015 and appointed a new executive for its Chinese business. Besides， the Wal-Mart made it clear that the investment in No.1 Shop is part of its commitment of long-term and constant development in China， and the No.1 Shop will operate on its original name and native leadership after the acquisition. We hope that the No.1 Shop should continue to play a positive role along with Chinese E-Commerce development， and continue to make easier and more efficient service for customs online， with mobile terminal or in stores on the basis of its present sound ground and good performance. Wal-Marts further investment in E-Commerce displays its confidence in and urgent needs for the Chinese markets and Chinas economy， and also demonstrates the positive progress China has made in opening-up in ECommerce industry.

The sustainable development has become a theme of worlds economy at present， and the orientation of Chinas economy and its retail industry as well. We hope that the Wal-Mart could make constant efforts for the sustainable development of Chinas retail industry with its advantageous and rich technology and experience in planning， purchase， logistics， processing， operation management， and food security.

Q： According to the report by Australian media， 2，000 Australian workers gathered and protested against the implementation of China-Australia FTA and they held that the FTA admits Chinese workers to replace the Australian counterparts in major construction projects， which will threaten local peoples job opportunities. How does the MOFCOM response to it？

A： Both the Chinese and Australian sides have made commitment on personnel exchange in the FTA and committed to provide easier arrangement for eligible projects and technicians on temporary entry. For example， the Chinese side has made extensive commitment to Australian business visitors， managers， senior managers， experts， contract service providers， repair and assembling staff and their eligible spouse and family members while providing them with long period of resident time. Its a fruit made through repetitive negotiations and based on the two sides striving for win-win trade and economic relations of China-Australia in the long term.

It must be pointed out that some separate Australian media quoted without context that the China-Australia FTA admitted Chinese workers to replace the local workers in major construction projects. Thats not true， because it must satisfy certain preconditions for Chinese technicians to work in Australia. Firstly， Chinas investment value of infrastructure project in Australia should reach AUD150 million； secondly， the project company should register in Australia and strictly abide local laws and regulations； thirdly， the project invested by the Chinese side should be supervised and administrated by Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Its business scope， professional certificate and language requirements should be decided after negotiations with and confirmation by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

We believe that more Chinese enterprises will go to invest in Australia after the signing of China-Australia FTA. It will help improve the local infrastructure in transport， telecommunications， tourism， environment， power supply and generation areas， which will offer more jobs for local people actually rather than threaten their opportunities.

Q： Since last year， the price of the global bulk commodities has continued to suffer big declines and the downward trend hasnt changed yet recently. As the big purchasing and exporting country of the global bulk commodities， will the trade development of China be affected？

A： Since the second half of last year， the international market price of the bulk commodities has continued to suffer big declines and the energy and resource products which greatly depend on the import generally increased in quantity and decreased in price， pulling down the overall growth of the import. In the first half of this year， 15 bulk commodities supervised by the MOFCOM such as crude oil， product oil， natural gas， coal， iron ore， cooper concentrate， steels， cooper product， plastic raw materials， chemical fertilizer， natural rubber， soybean， grain， log and paper pulp accumulated the import of US$215.2 billion， with a decrease of 32%， pulling down 12.6 percentage points of the foreign trade import. In the second half of 2015， the international market price of the bulk commodities still remains gloomy.. Affected by this， Chinese import will continue to run in the low range considering the domestic and overseas factors.

From the perspective of economic benefit， there is a beneficial side. For example， the average price of the overall import in China dropped more than 10% in the first half of this year and the average price of the export in the same period remained the same as last year， which means that the foreign trade conditions of China are greatly improved. In the first half of this year， the decline of the import price of 8 bulk raw materials such as crude oil， plastic and soybean reduces the payment of US$76.95 billion （equivalent to about RMB470 billion）， greatly lower- ing the production cost of the domestic enterprises and improving benefits.

Q： Recently， the media have noticed that the Exposure Draft of Commodity Flow Method has been published at the website of the Ministry of Commerce and the stage of seeking for opinions has come to an end. Can you introduce the background of drawing up the Commodity Flow Method and the main problems hoped to be resolved. What is the next procedure？

A： Listing the Commodity Flow Method into the legislation working plan is an important measure to implement the reform decision of the 3rd plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of CPC on“promoting the reform of the domestic trade circulation system and the construction of the legal business environment”. In recent years， many important documents on promoting the reform and development of circulation fields such as the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Circulation System and Accelerating the Development of the Circulation Industry by the State Council and the Opinions on Promoting the Sound Development of the Domestic Trade Circulation by the General Office of the State Council have been successively introduced， but there are no comprehensive and basic law and regulation in the domestic trade circulation field. Drawing up the Commodity Flow Method is not only necessary， but also urgent. Therefore， the State Council decides to let the Ministry of Commerce take charge of drawing up this law and strives to promote the introduction as soon as possible.

The Commodity Flow Method covers a wide range of fields. While drafting the above regulation， the Ministry of Commerce kept communication and coordination with the relevant departments and the local regions， solicited opinions from all sides， actively worked with the relevant departments to deeply study the key and difficult problems during the process of drawing up and optimizing the regulation design of Commodity Flow Method. After seeking public opinions for the Commodity Flow Method， efforts will be made to further modify and improve the draft before submitting it to the State Council and the legislature of state according to the regulations of the Legislative Law and the legislative procedure of the State Council. Commodity Flow Method will be focused on the core problems such as how to deal with the relationship between the government and the market within the domestic trade circulation field. It will make laws and regulations regarding commodity circulation equipments， commodity circulation safety， commodity circulation order， commodity circulation supervision and commodity circulation promotion.endprint