A Good Omen On the Horizon.docVIP

A Good Omen On the Horizon 　　Against the backdrop of lukewarm international demand and tremendous economic downward pressure， China’s foreign trade maintained its recent rebound， with imports up 0.6 percent and exports down 2 percent year on year in 2016. 　　Huang Songping， spokesman of the General Administration of Customs （GAC）， described the performance as “really not easy，”and pointed out that foreign trade experienced a dramatic decline in the first quarter， stabilized in the second quarter， and maintained growth in the third and fourth quarters. 　　What’s behind the return to growth？“First， a series of policies and measures had been implemented to stabilize and boost foreign trade，” said Huang. 　　For instance， in September 2016， the Ministry of Commerce （MOFCOM） and GAC jointly canceled the pre-establishment approval requirement for processing trade， which means processing imported raw materials and then exporting the finished products overseas. In November 2016， the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly declared to raise the export rebate rate of important products， such as refined oil， to 17 percent. 　　“Second， as the external environment has improved， export enterprises saw the number of new orders rise remarkably. Third， stability and recovery in the domestic economy have driven up the demand for bulk commodities，” Huang noted. 　　In 2016， the total value of Chinese imports and exports stood at 24.3 trillion yuan（$3.54 trillion）， down 0.9 percent year on year. “Rampant trade protectionism， dog-eatdog competition in the international market， and rising domestic production costs， which have outpaced the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade―all these jointly led to a decline in the total value of foreign trade，” said Bai Ming， a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation， MOFCOM， who added that the yuan’s depreciation also pushed the figure down. 　　 Structural optimi