Cross-border e-commerce refers to an international commercial activity in which trading entities belonging to different customs territories reach transactions through e-commerce platforms, conduct electronic payment settlements, and deliver goods through cross-border e-commerce logistics and remote warehousing to complete transactions.
According to statistics from China Customs, in 2022, the scale of my country’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports was 2.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1% over 2021, accounting for 4.9% of the total value of my country’s imports and exports of goods, which was basically the same as in 2021. It mainly presents the following four characteristics.
First, the scale of imports and exports reached a new high. In 2022, the scale of my country’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports exceeded the 2 trillion yuan mark for the first time. Among them, exports were 1.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.1%, accounting for 6.4% of my country’s total exports; imports were 527.8 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.8%, accounting for 2.9% of my country’s total imports. Cross-border e-commerce has injected new impetus into the development of my country’s foreign trade.
Second, trading partners are becoming more diversified. From the perspective of export destinations, the US market accounts for 34.3%, the UK accounts for 6.5%, Germany accounts for 4.6%, Malaysia accounts for 3.9%, and Russia accounts for 2.9%. In addition, there are emerging market countries such as Singapore, Japan, Canada, France, and Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, and Vietnam. From the perspective of import sources, Japan accounts for 21.7% of my country’s total cross-border e-commerce imports, the United States accounts for 17.9%, Australia accounts for 10.5%, and France accounts for 7.5%. Goods from trading partners such as South Korea, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam also enter the Chinese market through cross-border e-commerce.
Third, the proportion of consumer goods has further increased. Among the exported goods, consumer goods accounted for 9.8%, an increase of 1 percentage point. Among them, clothing, shoes and bags accounted for 3.1%, mobile phones and other electronic products accounted for 17.1%, and home furnishings accounted for 7.8%. Among the imported goods, consumer goods accounted for 98.3%, an increase of 1.7%. Among them, beauty and toiletries accounted for 28.4%, fresh food accounted for 14.7%, medicine and medical equipment accounted for 13.9%, and milk powder accounted for 12.9%. More and more consumers around the world enjoy more choices and convenience brought by cross-border e-commerce.
Fourth, the head effect of business development is obvious. The development of cross-border e-commerce business in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu is relatively active. Among them, Guangdong accounts for 43.4% of the total value of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports, Zhejiang accounts for 13.5%, Fujian accounts for 6.4%, and Jiangsu accounts for 5.4%, accounting for nearly 70% in total. The customs enterprise survey shows that more than 70% of enterprises expect cross-border e-commerce imports and exports to be stable or grow in 2023.
Foreign trade imports and exports are divided into traditional foreign trade imports and exports and cross-border e-commerce imports and exports. From 2019 to 2022, the total import and export value of my country’s cross-border e-commerce increased from 1.29 trillion yuan to 2.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 62.8%, of which cross-border export data increased from 0.8 trillion yuan in 2019 to 1.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 91.25%, and cross-border import data increased from 0.49 trillion yuan to 0.53 billion yuan, an increase of 8.16%.
The above data comes from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, which is the full-caliber and full-format import and export data of cross-border e-commerce. The statistical scope of the data is the import and export goods traded online, including but not limited to the import and export goods under the customs supervision methods 1210 (full name bonded cross-border trade e-commerce), 1239 (full name bonded cross-border trade e-commerce A), 9610 (full name cross-border trade e-commerce), 9710 (full name cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export) and 9810 (full name cross-border e-commerce B2B export overseas warehouse).
Cross-border e-commerce is divided into cross-border import e-commerce and cross-border export e-commerce. In my country, the scale of cross-border exports is about twice that of cross-border imports. Therefore, the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country is mainly export-oriented, supplemented by imports.