SME Exports Remain on Steady Track in July

A report from chinadaily.com.cn on Aug. 28th, 2024:

Exports by China’s small and medium-sized enterprises remained in positive territory in July, with the purchasing managers’ index for the sector above a threshold separating expansion from contraction, according to an industry report.

The PMI for SMEs (B2B) Merchandise Export — an index tracked by B2B cross-border trade payment platform XTransfer — reached 50.4, reflecting the resilience of these midsized firms.

According to the report, clothing, furniture and home appliances — “old three items” — formed the major export items of SMEs.

Categories related to emerging industries, such as auto parts of new energy vehicles and intelligent audio-video in-car equipment, performed well in terms of export volume.

Among the polled SMEs, the number of major export markets reached 152 over the past three months, with the United States, the Hong Kong special administrative region, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia being the top five.

“According to indexes, the SMEs did well in trade with emerging economies of ASEAN, Africa and Latin America, indicating continued exploration of new markets,” Deng said.

“It is worth noting that the logistics efficiency index for exports to Latin American countries is significantly higher than other regions, mainly due to the increasingly mature air and sea freight routes between China and Latin American countries this year,” Deng added.