Since the beginning of this year, facing the complex and severe external environment and the rising pressure of global trade protectionism, China's foreign trade has grown strongly and steadily. In the first half of the year, the import and export scale exceeded 25 trillion yuan for the first time in history, highlighting new advantages in export product structure, industrial chain and supply chain response speed.

Recently, many people may have noticed that due to the hot weather this summer, Chinese made cool home appliances have been favored and snapped up globally, once again demonstrating the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing. Let's start from an air conditioning production line.

Response speed of the industrial chain in seconds

Chinese manufacturing highlights new advantages

Recently, many countries around the world have been experiencing high temperatures, and air conditioning is becoming a new urgent need. At an air conditioning factory in Qingdao, Shandong, a sum of money from France; Large order” Make the production line even busier.

Product Technical Director of Haier Air Conditioning Jiaozhou Interconnected Factory; Zheng Guangxiang: Recently, there has been a surge in orders in Europe, with a French order of 70000 units just received a few days ago.

Faced with a sudden increase in orders, the person in charge appeared very confident. Why can we catch 70000 urgent orders? The answer is first hidden on this flexible production line.

CCTV reporter from the main station; Gao Yuan: This production line was still producing air conditioners for Colombia yesterday, but it has already started producing air conditioners for France today. In a flexible production factory, the production line can quickly switch between production models in different countries

Catching urgent orders relies not only on quick production line adjustments, but also on unique designs that cater to local needs. The reporter saw that in order to meet the environmental requirements of Europe, the air conditioning units sold by enterprises to Europe have been redesigned.

Head of Haier Air Conditioning Hungary Market Business; Xu Kaixuan: The overall coordination has been achieved to achieve A+++energy efficiency. Compared to regular air conditioning, it can save 42% of electricity when used in the same room for one hour.

The reporter saw in Qingdao that it is not a single enterprise or process that catches the heat wave urgent orders, but the entire industrial chain. At a circuit board company near this air conditioning factory, researchers have redesigned air conditioning circuit boards for the European market.

Kaosi Chuangzhi IoT Jiaozhou Interconnected Factory Order Manager; Wang Zhenyu: An intelligent AI control program has been added, which can dynamically adjust the operating frequency of the compressor, significantly reducing start stop energy consumption and low-frequency low efficiency losses. Compared to traditional solutions, we can achieve a reduction of over 35% in overall energy consumption, while also increasing energy efficiency by 15%. The temperature deviation can be controlled within 0.4 ℃.

Looking at the industrial chain along the production line, Qingdao has formed a complete and advanced intelligent home appliance production network. On this network, there are over 2200 gathering enterprises, including 52 national level R&D innovation carriers, 17 national manufacturing industry champion enterprises and products.

Not only in Qingdao, customs data shows that in the first half of this year, China exported a total of 107.91 billion yuan worth of household appliances such as air conditioners, fans, and refrigerators, sending waves to global consumers; Cool and refreshing;.

The new business card of China's exports behind the new tax number

In addition to cooling products, since the beginning of this year, Chinese manufacturing has gone global; Bill of Lading” More and more new faces are appearing. In the past two years, electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells were referred to as exports; New Three Samples; In the first half of this year, robots, artificial intelligence, and innovative drugs represented the future direction of the industry; New New Three Samples; It is rising as a new business card for China's foreign trade.

The reporter found in the interview that this year, cleaning robots have exclusive customs tax numbers. What new changes in Chinese manufacturing going global are hidden behind a small tax number?

At a robot company in Wuzhong District, Suzhou, a batch of floor cleaning robots that are about to be shipped to Europe are undergoing customs inspection. After completing the inspection, these products will depart for overseas markets. Starting this year, cleaning robots have added a dedicated tax code column, providing clearer“ ID number”.

Deputy Chief of Inspection and Quarantine Department 2 of Suzhou Customs Office in Wuzhong; Liang Hu: With a tax number, the classification of cleaning robot products will be more accurate, which will greatly help enterprises with compliance declaration and simplify customs clearance processes.

A unique tax number corresponds to a rapidly growing export category. At a newly launched factory in Suzhou in the first half of the year, orders for clean robot production have been scheduled until December, with half of them coming from overseas markets.

Production Manager of Ecovacs Robot Intelligent Manufacturing Center; Li Jiang: Currently, we have only opened one factory building in the park. Our second phase of the factory building is expected to be put into operation after the year, with a planned production capacity of 7.5 million units.

Why is the new category growing so fast? Innovation speed is key. In Wuzhong District, where the enterprise is located, a customized bus route with a total length of 8 kilometers departs from Harbin Institute of Technology Suzhou Research Institute, connecting talent apartments, research institutes, and robot companies along the way, and finally arrives at the Robot Comprehensive Innovation Center. Engineers from different suppliers such as radar, sensors, and casings work together every day to develop intelligent navigation, long-term low consumption operation, and other functions for the new generation of cleaning robots.

Global Product Director of Ecovacs Robotics; Wu Qi: The project cycle from the past 9 months will be shortened to a minimum of 6 months. From releasing one generation of products per year in the past, we can now quickly iterate to releasing two generations of core products per year.

In Wuzhong District, Suzhou, with robot machine enterprises as the core, a cluster of“ Robots+Intelligent Manufacturing; There are over 1600 related enterprises, and every link in the industry chain is accelerating the export of products.

Director of the Industrial Development Bureau of Suzhou Wuzhong Economic and Technological Development Zone; Li Si: We have attracted and connected upstream and downstream enterprises such as LiDAR, sensors, and core motors around cleaning robots, effectively shortening the supply chain radius to within 10 kilometers and further enhancing the competitiveness of the industry.

Not only cleaning robots, but also with the leapfrog development of China's robotics industry, the export scale continues to expand. Customs data shows that in the first half of this year, China's total export of cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots was 18.09 billion yuan. At the same time, China's industrial robot exports reached 6.29 billion yuan, an increase of 18.6%, and were sold to 141 countries and regions worldwide. Surgical robot exports reached 480 million yuan, an increase of 3.3 times, and the export market increased from 23 in the same period last year to 49.

More yuan  Tighter

Foreign Trade“ Moments” Continuous expansion

In the first half of this year, facing a complex and ever-changing external environment, Chinese foreign trade enterprises continued to explore new markets and seek new partners. From the increasing number of international shipping routes along coastal ports to the constantly extending train routes, a more diverse and closely knit trade network is accelerating its formation.

In the first half of this year, Yantian Port has added a total of 10 international routes, covering trade markets such as Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. From new port partners to constantly expanding shipping routes, more and more markets are being incorporated into the global supply chain network of Chinese enterprises.

Managing Director of Yantian International; Cen Qicheng: We accurately match the rapidly growing demand for ships. The eastern operation area of Yantian Port is about to be put into operation, linking the integrated operation of the central, western, and eastern operation areas, and continuously promoting digital and green upgrading.

The trade network of coastal ports is expanding in more directions, and the routes from inland areas to international markets are also accelerating. At China Railway Lianji Wuhan Central Station, a fully loaded China Europe freight train is undergoing loading and grouping. This train will pass through the Alashankou Port and head towards Germany. In the first half of this year, the China Europe freight train (Wuhan) sent 238 trains, a year-on-year increase of 21.4%.

Marketing Department of Wuhan Railway Logistics Center of China Railway Wuhan Bureau; Zheng Yilong: Two new stable routes were added in the first half of this year: one is the one that opened on January 1st; Wuhan‐ Copenhagen, Denmark; The route mainly transports fresh air ventilators, furniture, etc; The second one was opened on March 31st; Wuhan‐ Baku, Azerbaijan; The route mainly transports car parts and daily necessities, and the number of scheduled trains for the outbound route has increased from 8 to 9 per week.

The new route has brought new markets and attracted more sources of goods. Cars and parts from Chongqing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places can be transported to Wuhan by water via the Yangtze River, and then directly sent to Europe and Central Asia by railway, without the need for short distance transportation by road. The transportation time is shortened by more than two days, and the comprehensive logistics cost is reduced by about 15%.

Marketing Department of Wuhan Railway Logistics Center of China Railway Wuhan Bureau; Zheng Yilong: Many customers actively choose train transportation, which can reach core European markets such as Poland, Germany, and Italy in about 15 days, helping companies quickly fill the local supply gap.

From newly added international routes to trains heading towards new destinations, more and more Chinese companies are finding new trading partners. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of this year, China has implemented measures to jointly build; The Belt and Road” The national import and export amounted to 12.97 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.8%; Imports and exports to neighboring countries increased by 20.6%, while imports and exports to Latin America, Africa, and the European Union increased by 16.2%, 19.6%, and 10.2%, respectively.

Explore endogenous development drivers

Strengthen the confidence of stable growth in foreign trade

From the ability to respond to urgent orders to the new products behind the new tax number, the strength of China's foreign trade is not only reflected in scale growth, but also in transforming market changes into development opportunities through driving force from innovation, space from diversification, and efficiency from industrial chain collaboration.

Dealing with external uncertainty with its own certainty is the confidence that enables China's foreign trade to steadily move forward.