General

According to Hangzhou Customs data, in January and February of this year, Zhejiang's import and export amounted to 691.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%, including 502.94 billion yuan for export, a decrease of 6.4%, and 188.41 billion yuan for import, a decrease of 0.3%. The scale of import, export, and import ranked third, second, and fifth among all provinces and cities in the country, respectively accounting for 11.2%, 14.4%, and 7.0% of the country's total import, export, and import value.

Compared with the whole year of 2022, the export scale of the province rose to the second place and the import scale rose to the fifth place in January-February, both increasing by one place; The national share of imports and exports, exports, and imports increased by 0.1 percentage points.

In the face of data, we don't need to mention "falling" color changes. According to Lu Haisheng, a first-level researcher at the Statistics and Analysis Department of Hangzhou Customs, the main contradiction in foreign trade is the weakening of external demand and the decline in orders. In addition, the high base makes year-on-year data growth even less significant. Zhejiang's foreign trade scale accounts for an increasing share of the country, making it increasingly difficult to maintain high-speed growth. At the same time, the central government clearly proposes to better coordinate the "effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity" of the economy. Therefore, the next focus of maintaining stability and improving quality in foreign trade is to focus on high-quality development, rather than growth alone. "We expect exports to rebound in March and have confidence in Zhejiang's foreign trade," he said.

Looking closely at customs data, Zhejiang's foreign trade in January-February has the following main characteristics:

Both imports and exports to emerging markets have grown, and ASEAN has surpassed the United States as the second largest trading market. In January-February, Zhejiang maintained growth in major emerging markets, with imports and exports to ASEAN, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa reaching 93.77 billion yuan, 84.34 billion yuan, 69.28 billion yuan, and 50.07 billion yuan, up 7.6%, 4.2%, 1.0%, and 3.4%, respectively; ASEAN accounts for 13.6% of the total import and export value of the province, surpassing the United States and becoming the second largest trade market in the province. Import and export to the EU and the United States were 111.50 billion yuan and 90.13 billion yuan, respectively, down 10.8% and 15.6%. Over the same period, imports and exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" reached 269.53 billion yuan, up 5.3%; Import and export to other RCEP member countries reached 167.89 billion yuan, up 0.4%.

The export performance of green and low-carbon products is eye-catching. According to customs data, in January-February, Zhejiang's exports of mechanical and electrical products amounted to 232.27 billion yuan, down 3.4%, accounting for 46.2% of the total export value of the province, with a proportion increase of 1.4 percentage points; Among them, the export of green and low-carbon products such as solar cells, electric vehicles, and lithium ion batteries increased by 20.4%, 84.0%, and 1.3 times respectively, driving a total export growth of 1.4 percentage points across the province. During the same period, the export of labor intensive products was 147.30 billion yuan, down 10.3%, accounting for 29.3%, and the proportion decreased by 1.3 percentage points. Among them, the export of luggage and luggage was 7.38 billion yuan, up 19.2%.

The import of coal increased in volume and price, and the import of agricultural products increased significantly. According to customs data, in January-February, Zhejiang's energy product imports amounted to 35.04 billion yuan, an increase of 12.6%, accounting for 18.6% of the province's total import value during the same period. Among them, the import of coal was 5.428 million tons, an increase of 97.4%, and the average price rose by 15.0%, driving the total import value of the province to increase by 1.9 percentage points; The import of crude oil was 6.581 million tons, a decrease of 1.2%, and the average price increased by 6.6%; The import of natural gas was 240000 tons, down 8.9%. During the same period, the import of agricultural products was 15.46 billion yuan, an increase of 34.5%, driving the total import value of the province to increase by 2.1 percentage points; The import of edible oil was 1.31 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3 times, and the import of meat was 8.7 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1 times.

Market procurement leads the country, and cross-border e-commerce maintains rapid growth. According to customs data, in January-February, Zhejiang's market procurement exports amounted to 67.92 billion yuan, an increase of 7.8%, accounting for 56.0% of the total value of the national market procurement exports, driving the province's export growth by 0.9 percentage points. Import and export through the customs cross-border e-commerce platform reached 28.41 billion yuan, an increase of 49.7%, of which export reached 20.91 billion yuan, an increase of 73.2%, driving the province's export growth by 1.6 percentage points; Import reached 7.5 billion yuan, an increase of 8.6%. During the same period, the import and export of bonded logistics across the province reached 32.42 billion yuan, an increase of 11.2%.

The proportion of imports and exports in free trade pilot zones and comprehensive bonded areas has increased. In January-February, the import and export of the province's pilot free trade zones reached 104.46 billion yuan, up 5.4%, accounting for 15.1% of the total import and export value, up 1.5 percentage points. The import and export of the comprehensive bonded zone reached 26.15 billion yuan, an increase of 33.6%, accounting for 3.8% of the total import and export value of the province, up 1.1 percentage points.

The number of foreign trade entities has maintained an increase, and the leading position of private enterprises has continued to consolidate. In January-February, there were 75000 foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance in Zhejiang, an increase of 3.0%. During the same period, the import and export of private enterprises reached 547.77 billion yuan, accounting for 79.2% of the total import and export value of the province, with a proportion increase of 2.3 percentage points; Among them, exports amounted to 420.73 billion yuan, accounting for 83.7%, with a 2.2 percentage point increase in proportion, while imports amounted to 127.44 billion yuan, accounting for 67.4%, with a 3.6 percentage point increase in proportion.