What can international trade be divided into?

International trade activities are diverse and complex in nature. International trade can be classified from different angles. Among them, the most basic categories are:

I export trade, import trade and transit trade

International trade can be divided into export trade, import trade and entrepot trade according to the different commodity flows.

Export trade refers to the trade activities of selling goods produced or processed in China to other countries' markets; Import trade refers to the trade activities of importing foreign goods into the domestic market for sale. As far as a transaction is concerned, it is export trade for the seller and import trade for the buyer.

Because a country's production and demand for various varieties of a certain commodity are not necessarily consistent, it often exports and imports the same kind of goods. If in a certain period of time, in the foreign trade of a certain commodity category, the export value of a country or region exceeds the import value, the excess is called net export; On the contrary, if the import volume is greater than the export volume, the excess is called net import.

In import and export trade, the goods of buyers and sellers sometimes pass through the border of a third country, and the third country charges a certain fee for this batch of goods, which constitutes entrepot trade to a third country.

Second, visible trade and invisible trade.

According to the different forms of goods, international trade can be divided into visible trade and intangible trade.

Visible trade refers to the import and export of physical goods, because physical goods are visible. In international trade, there are many kinds of tangible goods, which can usually be divided into two categories: primary products and finished products. Primary products refer to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery and mineral products that have not been processed or processed very little; Industrial manufactured goods refer to products that have been processed by industry. According to the United Nations standard classification of international trade commodities, international trade commodities are divided into 10 categories, mainly food and fresh animals (category 0); Beverage and tobacco (category1); Non-edible raw materials other than fuel (category 2); Mineral fuels, lubricating oils and related raw materials (3 categories); Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes (4 categories); Chemicals and related products (5 categories); Finished products mainly classified by raw materials (6 categories); Machinery and transport equipment (category 7); Miscellaneous products (8 categories); Other unclassified commodities (9 categories). Among them, 0-4 categories are primary products and 5-8 categories are industrial finished products.

Invisible trade refers to the import and export of intangible services and technologies. Because labor and technology are intangible, invisible and intangible. Intangible trade mainly includes transportation, loading and unloading, insurance, finance, postal communication, ship repair, international tourism, engineering services, agency and technology transfer. As for intangible trade, there is no international classification standard like physical goods.

The main differences between tangible trade and intangible trade are: the import and export of tangible goods, including customs trade statistics, are the main components of the whole balance of payments; The import and export of intangible goods do not go through customs formalities and are not included in customs trade statistics, but they are also an important part of the balance of payments.

Since 1990s, with the rapid development of electronic science and technology, some service products have become tangible, such as CDs, but they should be service products in nature. Therefore, in a sense, the boundary between visible trade and invisible trade is blurred.

Three, direct trade, indirect trade and entrepot trade

According to whether a third country participates in the trade process, international trade can be divided into direct trade, indirect trade and entrepot trade.

Direct trade refers to direct trade between commodity producing countries and commodity consuming countries without the intervention of a third country. The direct export of goods from producing countries to consuming countries is direct export for producing countries and direct import for consuming countries, both of which are direct trade.

Indirect trade refers to the trade between commodity producing countries and commodity consuming countries through third countries. Goods resold to consumer countries through third countries are indirect exports to producer countries, indirect imports to consumer countries and entrepot trade to third countries.

Re-export trade refers to the trade in which a country (region) imports a commodity not for consumption, but as a commodity and then exports it to other countries. Most countries and regions engaged in entrepot trade are those with superior geographical location, convenient traffic conditions and less trade restrictions, such as London, Rotterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. Because of the above conditions, they facilitate the circulation of goods, so entrepot trade is very developed.

Four. General trade and professional trade

International trade can be divided into general trade and special trade according to different standards for dividing import and export.

Total trade refers to import and export trade divided by national boundaries. All goods entering the country are classified as total imports, and all goods leaving the country are classified as total exports. The total import plus the total export is the total trade of a country. Entrepot trade is included in the total trade volume, and China, Japan, Britain, Canada, Australia, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and other countries adopt this classification standard.

Specialized trade refers to import and export trade based on customs clearance. When foreign goods enter the country, they are temporarily stored in customs bonded warehouses or used in other special areas without entering the customs territory, and are not classified as imports. Only goods entering the customs territory from foreign countries and goods entering the customs territory from bonded warehouses are classified as special imports. Domestic products shipped out of China and goods processed after import and shipped out of customs are classified as special exports. Specialized import plus specialized export is a country's specialized trade volume. The United States, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other countries adopt this classification standard.

The trade volume announced by the United Nations generally means total trade volume or specialized trade volume.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) cash trade, bookkeeping trade and barter trade

According to different trade settlement methods, international trade can be divided into cash trade, bookkeeping trade and barter trade.

Cash transaction refers to the transaction conducted by cash settlement. Because of its flexible use and wide use, cash can be freely converted into other currencies, which is the most widely used method in international trade activities at present. Its characteristic is that banks settle creditor's rights and debts one by one, and the settlement method is mainly letter of credit, supplemented by collection and remittance.

Bookkeeping trade is a trade in which the two governments sign a trade agreement or a trade payment agreement and settle accounts according to the bookkeeping method. Its characteristic is that in a certain period of time (mostly one year), the trade between the two countries does not need to be settled in cash one by one, but is settled once due. Foreign exchange obtained through bookkeeping trade is called bookkeeping foreign exchange, which is generally only used between agreed countries and cannot be used for settlement with third countries.

Barter trade refers to a kind of trade behavior in which the two parties exchange goods according to the barter agreement or barter contract signed by each other, and the pricing of goods is used as the settlement method. This method is more suitable for countries with insufficient foreign exchange or unable to conduct free foreign exchange settlement and mutual transactions for various other reasons.