Unit One 出口流程图进口流程图General Procedures of Export and Import TransactionI. Text For most nations exports and imports are the most important international activities. Each country has to import the articles and commodities it does not itself produce, and it has to earn foreign exchanges to pay for them. It does this by exporting its own manufactured articles and surplus raw materials. Thus the import and export trades are two sides of the same coin, and both can have beneficial effects on the home market. Imports create competition for home-produced goods; exporting gives a manufacturer a larger market for his products, so helping to reduce the unit cost. In each case the effect is to keep prices in the home and market down. But there may be factors that compel governments to place restrictions on foreign trade. Imports may be controlled or subjected to a custom duty to protect a home industry, or because the available foreign exchange had to be channeled into buying more essential goods and exports, too, may re restricted, to conserve a particular raw material required by a developing home industry. These factors mean that importing and exporting are subject to a lot of formalities, such as customs entry and exchange control approval, from which the home retail and wholesale trades are free. They also mean that the procedures of foreign trade is much more complicated than that of domestic trade, the latter involves specialized knowledge and highly trained personnel. This unit tries to present a general picture and a brief introduction to export and import trades for the purpose of clarifying their complicated procedures.2.1 Procedures of Export and Import Transaction An export or import business is so complicated that it may take quite a long time to conclude a transaction. Varied and complicated procedures have to be gone through in the course of export or import transaction. From the very beginning to the end of the transaction, the whole operation generally undergoes four stages: preparing for exporting or importing, business negotiation, implementing the contract, and settlement of disputes(if any). Each stage covers some specific steps. Since the export and import trades are two sides of the same coin, and one countrys export is another countrys import, hence, we will take the procedures of export transaction in the following diagram to illustrate the general procedures of export and import transaction. Before proceeding to the following units, wed better keep this general picture in mind. The most difficult part of exporting is taking the first step. Any exporter who wants to sell his products in a foreign country or countries must first conduct a lot of market research. Market research is a process of conducting research into a specific market for a particular product. Export market research, in particular, is a study of a given market abroad to determine the needs of that market and the methods by which the products can be supplied. The exporter needs to know which foreign companies are likely to use his products or might be interested in marketing and distributing the products in their country. He must think whether there is a potential for making a profit. He must examine the market structures and general economic conditions in those places. If the economy is in a recession, the demand for all products is usually decreased. So the exporters products might not sell well at such times. Market research mainly covers: 1) Research on the countries or regions Countries or regions with different political and economic systems hold quite different attitude toward foreign trade business. The exporter should investigate their political, financial and economic conditions; their policies, laws and regulations governing foreign trade, foreign exchange control. Customs tariffs and commercial practices; their foreign trade situation (the structure, quantity, volume of exporting and importing commodities, trading partners and trade restrictions,etc.)2) Research on the market A research should also be conducted about the production, consumption, price and its trend, the major importing or exporting countries of a particular commodity in order to fix the right price of exporting commodities and properly handle other business terms.3) Research on the customer In international trade, credit information is of greater importance than in home trade. The exporter should know what kind of reputation the buyer or importer has, the approximate size of his business, how he pays his accounts and information about his trade activities. Obviously, customers with sound reputation and good financial standing will facilitate the export trade. The exporter can obtain this information from various sources such as references given by the buyer, his bank, various trade associations and enquiry agencies. In this way, the po