General

In response to recent reports that the number of empty containers in China's ports has increased, customs data shows that from the latest customs data, since late February, China's export container volume has continued to grow.

Yu Jianhua said at the thematic news conference of the "Opening Remarks from Authorities" series held by the State Administration of Foreign Affairs on the same day that the increase in empty containers was due to the excessive volume of new containers placed in the previous period, low domestic storage costs, and a large number of empty containers flowing back in the short term after the relief of the foreign epidemic, as well as seasonal regularity. A large number of empty containers are poised to be shipped in China's ports, reflecting to some extent that the international market is still optimistic about our export capacity in the next stage. According to customs data, since late February, China's export volume of containers has continued to grow.

Referring to the foreign trade situation of the whole year, Yu Jianhua said that the customs is closely monitoring the foreign trade development situation since March. "Our overall view is that the start is stable and the trend is positive."

According to customs data, in terms of scale, the total export value in the first two months hit a record high, increasing by 0.9%, better than expected. The total value of imports and exports exceeded 6 trillion yuan, which is the second time in history. In terms of composition, during the epidemic period, China took the lead in resuming work and production, and the export of epidemic prevention materials and "residential economy" products increased significantly, raising the foreign trade base; From a trend perspective, based on weekly monitoring, China's foreign trade imports and exports have significantly stabilized since February, with a month-on-month growth of more than 15% in the last week of February compared to the previous week; From the perspective of neighboring countries, China's foreign trade performance is good compared to neighboring economies that have published data.

The World Trade Organization recently predicted that global trade in goods was weak in the first quarter of this year, with an expected annual growth of only 1%. Local governments and enterprises also generally reflect that weak external demand and declining orders are the biggest challenges facing the development of foreign trade, and trade risks such as poor payment collection in some countries have also increased.

Yu Jianhua said that the development of foreign trade does face many difficulties and challenges, but we should also see a positive and optimistic side. For example, in the first two months, in terms of business entities, the customs newly registered 46000 foreign trade business entities; According to customs data, in terms of orders, the proportion of enterprises that have increased the amount of new export orders has continuously increased; In terms of new kinetic energy, the total exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar batteries increased by 60%.

"Taken together, the foreign trade situation is still grim and complex, but it also contains many opportunities, and the difficulties are more global. In comparison, China's competitive advantage remains significant. With the overall improvement of China's economic situation, customs data shows that the momentum of a smooth start to foreign trade in the first two months is expected to maintain. Therefore, we are confident that China's foreign trade this year will achieve the goal of promoting stability and improving quality." Yu Jianhua said.