China's cross-border e-commerce B2B market is expected to reach 13.9 trillion yuan in 2025

The report "Digital Platforms Help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Participate in Global Supply Chain Competition" released by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges on the 28th predicts that by 2025, the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce B2B market will reach 13.9 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below).

The digitization of trade has promoted the facilitation of trade, and the widespread application of digital technology has greatly reduced the cost of international trade. The report shows that in recent years, the global cross-border B2B model (Business To Business, a marketing model in which enterprises exchange products, services and information through the Internet) has developed rapidly and has become the main body of cross-border e-commerce.

From the perspective of the global market, the global B2B e-commerce transaction volume reached about 7 trillion US dollars in 2020, and the compound growth rate from 2020 to 2027 is expected to reach 17.5%, accounting for about 80% of global e-commerce transactions. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, international trade and supply chains have suffered severe shocks, but cross-border B2B has shown a counter-trend growth. It is estimated that by 2025, nearly 80% of global B2B transactions will shift to online.

From the perspective of the Chinese market, in 2020, the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce B2B market accounted for about 72.8% of the overall cross-border e-commerce market, of which cross-border imports accounted for 28.9%, cross-border exports accounted for about 71.1%, and the scale of the cross-border export B2B e-commerce market exceeded 3 trillion yuan. It is expected that from 2021 to 2025, China's cross-border e-commerce B2B market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25% to a market size of 13.9 trillion yuan.

The report shows that in recent years, driven by policies, demand and supply chains, China's SMEs have shown a positive growth trend in participating in the international supply chain. Digital platforms represented by Alibaba International Station and Dunhuang.com provide SMEs with integrated services across the entire industry chain and supply chain, and promote more SMEs to integrate into global preferential trade and participate in global supply chain competition. At the same time, it helps increase the added value of Chinese manufacturing export products and help the industry move up the value chain.

The report also pointed out that there are still many bottlenecks and blockages in the cross-border supply chain, which greatly increases the trade costs of small and medium-sized enterprises and hinders the further expansion of global inclusive trade. At the same time, the small-order and high-frequency transaction characteristics of the cross-border international supply chain of small and medium-sized enterprises have brought a series of challenges to the customs and government supervision of various countries, requiring governments to strengthen cooperation and carry out overall innovation in all links of the entire industrial chain based on cross-border payments, regulatory procedures, cross-border logistics, etc.

The report suggests that the digital international supply chain will be a strategic node for building domestic and international dual circulations. We should focus on expanding the strategic layout of the digital international supply chain at home and abroad, increase policy support for the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises into the digital supply chain system, speed up the formulation of a policy system that continuously optimizes the digital international supply chain, and actively lead the formation of a new framework for global digital supply chains and economic and trade rules.