General

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in the first two months of this year, China's total import and export of goods amounted to 6.18 trillion yuan, basically unchanged from the same period last year. Foreign trade started smoothly and showed strong development resilience.

Needless to say, the foreign trade situation in the first two months of this year is indeed complex, due to factors such as weak foreign demand, the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, and the rise of trade protectionism, as well as the impact of the shift period of escalation of epidemic prevention and control coupled with the Spring Festival holiday. Despite this, with the support of regional trade agreements and the joint support of relevant policies and measures, Chinese enterprises have overcome difficulties and remained resilient in foreign trade, manifested in both scale and structure:

First, China's total import and export volume in the first two months reached 6.18 trillion yuan, the second highest value in history over the same period. According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, exports denominated in RMB have achieved positive growth, highlighting the general decline in exports from neighboring countries. In the first two months, China's trade surplus was 810.32 billion yuan, an increase of 16.2% year-on-year. The growth of net exports continues to be an important contributor to economic development. The Chinese market has huge potential and plays an important role in the global economic recovery. As the flow of people and goods becomes more frequent, economic activity accelerates the recovery, market demand and consumption capacity become stronger, and imports are expected to accelerate the recovery, supporting the overall strength of China's foreign trade.

Secondly, China's foreign trade structure continued to optimize in the first two months. As an important component of foreign trade, private enterprises are more active. In the context of a decline in overall foreign trade, the import and export of private enterprises rose by 5.3%, accounting for 51.2% of China's total foreign trade, up 3 percentage points from the same period last year. In contrast, private enterprises have a high degree of market activity and a fast grasp of market opportunities. They are an important source of trade innovation and can also have a good absorption capacity for external shocks. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Private enterprises have performed prominently in China's foreign trade, demonstrating stronger market confidence and contributing to enhancing the resilience of global supply chains. In terms of regional and product structure, foreign trade in the first two months has also been further optimized. China has closer trade relations with emerging markets, and its import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by 10.1%. As an important manifestation of economic globalization, automotive products are one of the representatives of a country's manufacturing capacity. From January to February, automobiles performed exceptionally well in mechanical and electrical products, achieving a high year-on-year growth of 78.9% in exports, and the export of new energy vehicles contributed significantly.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, as China's industrial chain supply chain adjusts to the new environment, it is expected that there is still room for further growth in foreign trade in the future. Foreign capital is also an important participant in China's foreign trade. The increasing attractiveness of China's domestic market provides more options for foreign investors to come to China. In 2023, the Ministry of Commerce of China launched a series of investment promotion activities for the "Year of Investing in China" to attract foreign investment with greater efforts, establish platforms, smooth channels, and accurately connect, providing foreign investment opportunities at the national and local levels. According to the plan, the three types of activities are promoted simultaneously.

The first category is comprehensive activities, which provide opportunities for all parties, including foreign investors, to jointly explore development and cooperation paths in the new situation and seek consensus building through keynote forums, summits, and other platforms held simultaneously with major exhibitions. The second category is "going global" activities, which engage in "door-to-door communication" with potential overseas investors about the development and investment attraction needs of industries in various regions, enabling investors to prepare in advance for the key industries they may invest in and the environment they face before coming to China, and expanding their overseas influence. The third category is "please come in" activities, which invite potential investors to come to China for field trips. Seeing is believing, quickly filling the information vacuum created by the inconvenience of personnel mobility in previous years, and accelerating the restoration and enhancement of mutual trust relationships.

This year, China will continue to accelerate its progress along the path of institutional opening up, striving to form an international first-class business environment, and through various open platforms, giving play to the role of specialized teams for key foreign investment projects, providing long-term and stable expectations for the development of foreign investment in China. The digital economy and artificial intelligence are accelerating to change the development model of the global economy and society. China has become a big data country. Whether it is the digital transformation of traditional industries or the accelerated expansion of the new economy, the market demand is strong and sustainable. Guided and encouraged by China's innovation policies, foreign-funded enterprises that can seize development opportunities can provide more stable long-term development support for their global development through collaborative cooperation with Chinese partners. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.