Tailwinds favoring foreign trade enterprises

A China-Europe Railway Express departs from Chongqing to Duisburg, Germany, on Nov 15. Foreign trade companies have said that the coverage of export credit insurance needs to be further expanded, smaller firms are facing certain financing difficulties, and they are also encountering bottlenecks in sea freight transportation, Wang added. Foreign trade has been a bright spot in the Chinese economy over the past months, as sluggish domestic demand and a tepid property market have to some extent dragged down overall economic expansion, analysts said, calling for strengthened support in key areas. Increasing financial support, and leveraging financial instruments to hedge against the uncertainties that enterprises may face, as well as reducing capital turnover cycles, are of utmost importance for foreign trade companies, especially smaller ones, said Zhou Maohua, a researcher at China Everbright Bank. As a result, the weighted average interest rate on new corporate loans extended in September was around 3.5 percent — a 0.31 percentage point drop compared to the same period last year, reaching a historic low, said Liu Ye, an official at the central bank.