Depth report

　　

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Publicity Department and other 27 departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Foreign Cultural Trade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). A total of 28 tasks and measures were put forward in seven areas: deepening reform and opening up in the cultural sector, cultivating new competitive advantages in cultural trade, activating new driving forces for innovative development, stimulating the development vitality of market entities, expanding the network of cooperation channels, improving policies and measures, and strengthening organizational guarantees.

China's foreign cultural trade volume exceeded $200 billion for the first time in 2021, up 38.7 percent year-on-year, said Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, at a regular press conference on July 21. In order to fully implement the overall deployment of cultural trade in the 14th Five-Year Plan and 2035 Vision and Goal Outline, and seize the new opportunities brought by the development of digital economy, MOFCOM will work with relevant departments and localities to implement the Opinions and push the development of foreign cultural trade to a new level.

"Cultural trade is an important part of service trade and an important path connecting cultural transmission and economic development." Fu Yifu, a senior researcher at the Xingtu Financial Research Institute, told Securities Daily that the guideline puts forward various suggestions for the high-quality development of cultural trade, which will help further promote the upgrading of China's foreign trade and industry, strengthen the country's cultural soft power and create new trade growth points.

Zhang Yiqun, deputy director of the performance management Committee of the Chinese Society of Public Finance, told the Securities Daily that the Opinions have four main highlights: first, they clarify the thoughts and principles of China's foreign cultural trade in the near future, and point out the direction for China's cultural construction; The second is to put foreign cultural trade as an important industry in priority development, which provides support for enriching our cultural products; Third, to link up foreign cultural trade with the joint construction of "One Belt and One Road" and promote the construction of a community of human destiny, which provides the carrier to expand our cultural propaganda; Fourth, digital culture, fine culture, copyright export and program manufacturing as a key breakthrough, to promote our cultural innovation and development into new impetus.

In terms of improving policies and measures, the guideline calls for innovation in financial services. The main measures include actively supporting qualified cultural trade enterprises to go public for financing, and financing by issuing corporate bonds, corporate bonds, and debt financing instruments of non-financial enterprises. Actively promote the "credit insurance + guarantee" model, and provide credit support for cultural trade enterprises in a variety of ways.

Chen Li, chief economist and director of the research institute at Chuancai Securities, told Securities Daily that cultural companies are mostly asset-light companies, which have difficulty in financing because the value of their intellectual property is difficult to evaluate effectively. Increasing financing support for the cultural industry reflects the country's emphasis on the cultural industry, and the cultural industry will usher in unprecedented development opportunities.

The Opinions also put forward the implementation of tax policies. Implement the policy of duty-free or zero tax rate for cultural service exports; For the cultural industry projects encouraged by the state, the self-use equipment imported within the total investment amount shall be exempted from tariff according to the current policies. Zhang Yiqun said that the "Opinions" on the export of cultural products and services to implement duty-free or zero tax policy, cultural enterprises treated as technologically advanced service enterprises, cultural enterprises form a substantial positive. The move will greatly reduce the tax burden of cultural enterprises, contribute to the innovation and development of cultural enterprises, further enrich the country's excellent cultural products and services, expand the communication channels and international influence of our cultural products, and then support the rapid development of our cultural industry in the direction of digitalization, intelligence, science and technology and high-end.

Chen suggested that supporting policies and measures should be introduced to ensure the timely implementation of the measures, such as improving the evaluation system for intangible assets and intellectual property, as well as providing relevant financial services to stimulate innovation.