王先庆接受环球时报采访谈跨境电子商务问题

A customer shops at an experience store for Suning's cross-border e-commerce platform in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province on April 7. Photo: CFP
Many cross-border e-commerce firms are reportedly
facing inventory shortages after a new online import policy was
implemented about one month ago.
"Our business has declined almost 70 percent since the new online
import policy was implemented [on April 8]," Cai Lin, vice general
manager of Henan Ying Lun Import and Export Trade Co, was quoted as
saying by the 21st Century Business Herald on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, many types of goods can't be imported under the new
policy. We have no choice but to sell our inventories," said
Cai.
In order to facilitate the sound development of the cross-border
e-commerce sector, the Ministry of
Finance and other authorities jointly
released a new tax policy for cross-border e-commerce retail
imports.
Under that policy, overseas retail goods purchased online will be
treated as imported goods, which will be subject to tariffs and
tax. The new tax policy allows a maximum of 2,000 yuan ($307.86)
for each cross-border transaction and an annual maximum of 20,000
yuan per individual. Goods that surpass the limits will be subject
to the full tax rates for general trade.
"It's no surprise that many cross-border e-commerce operators are
facing inventory shortages, as replenishments can't be completed in
a timely way under the new policy," said Lu Zhenwang, founder of
Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting. "For instance, some
cross-border e-commerce firms are having difficulty importing
products that are not on the list of imported cross-border
e-commerce retail goods."
On April 7, a list of 1,142 commodities traded online was jointly
released by Chinese authorities including the Ministry of Finance.
These are subject to the new tax policy on purchases of imported
products through cross-border e-commerce platforms.
On April 15, a second list of 151 items including meat, fruit and
edible oil was released by Chinese authorities.
"Compared with larger cross-border e-commerce platforms, small
players face more difficulty, particularly for those running
businesses excluded by the list," said Lu.
Bigger companies have more ways to adjust, Lu told the Global Times
on Thursday.
Amazon China has the ability to adjust its prices based on the
different tax rate, aiming to provide reasonable prices to
consumers, according to a statement the company sent to the Global
Times on Thursday.
Smaller companies have problems in adjusting, "but the new policy
is necessary to meet the needs of industrial development and
regulate the market further," Jing Linbo, director of the Chinese
Evaluation Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on
Thursday.
Cross-border e-commerce amounted to an estimated 259 billion yuan
in 2015, and the sector is growing at upward of 50 percent
annually, according to a report by McKinsey & Co in
February.
"The growth trend will continue," said Jing, but he also noted that
it depends on whether related policies can help build a fair market
and boost its sound development.
The rapid growth of the cross-border e-commerce business in recent
years also bred blind expansion.
"Many enterprises focus on short-term advantages from tax
differences for profits. The issuance of the [new policies] will
dilute such advantages, and is set to reshuffle the industry," read
a report issued by KPMG on March 14.
However, for a new emerging industry, it's
logical that many enterprises hope the government will provide more
support for their development, Wang
Xianqing, director of the Institute of Economics with the
Guangdong University of Business Studies, told the Global Times on
Thursday.
"The country should be more tolerant for those new emerging
industries and allow them more time to develop," said Wang, noting that the government could launch some
pilot programs in certain areas first and extend them nationwide
when the programs are mature.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/981618.shtml