General

Just now! First quarter import and export "transcript" released! According to customs import and export data, the total import and export value of China's goods trade in the first quarter was 9.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. Among them, exports reached 5.65 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%; Import reached 4.24 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%. Lv Daliang, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, stated that a stable and positive start to foreign trade has laid the foundation for achieving stability and quality improvement in foreign trade throughout the year.

1、 The first quarter started smoothly and presented six major characteristics

Firstly, the growth rate of imports and exports has been increasing month by month. Import and export data shows that in January this year, due to the impact of the Spring Festival holiday, imports and exports decreased by 7%. In February, the "negative to positive" growth rate increased by 8%, while in March, the year-on-year growth rate increased to 15.5%, showing a positive trend month by month. The overall growth rate in the first quarter was 4.8%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of last year, and the start was stable and positive.

Secondly, the number of foreign trade operators has steadily increased. In the first quarter, China had 457000 foreign trade enterprises with actual import and export performance, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. Among them, there were 384000 private enterprises, an increase of 7.5%, and import and export amounted to 5.18 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.4%, accounting for 52.4% of China's total import and export value. During the same period, foreign-invested enterprises imported and exported 3.04 trillion yuan, while state-owned enterprises imported and exported 1.65 trillion yuan, accounting for 30.7% and 16.7% of the total import and export value, respectively.

Thirdly, the proportion of general trade imports and exports has increased. In the first quarter, China's general trade import and export reached 6.46 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, accounting for 65.3% of the total import and export value, an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Among them, exports reached 3.68 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.7%; Import reached 2.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.2%. During the same period, the import and export of processing trade amounted to 1.79 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.1% of the total import and export value.

The fourth is the rapid growth of imports and exports to ASEAN. According to import and export data, in the first quarter, China's imports and exports to ASEAN, the largest trading partner, reached 1.56 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, 11.3 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, accounting for 15.8% of the total import and export value; Import and export to the European Union, the United States, Japan, and South Korea amounted to 1.34 trillion, 1.11 trillion, 546.41 billion, and 528.46 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 35.6% of the total import and export value. Over the same period, China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by 16.8%, accounting for 34.6% of the total import and export value, an increase of 3.5 percentage points; Import and export to other RCEP member countries increased by 7.3%.

The fifth is the growth of exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products. According to import and export data, in the first quarter, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 3.27 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, accounting for 57.9% of the total export value; Among them, the exports of automobiles, household appliances, and batteries were 147.47 billion, 141.24 billion, and 116.34 billion yuan, respectively, with an increase of 96.6%, 3.2%, and 84.8%. During the same period, the export of labor-intensive products reached 947.46 billion yuan, an increase of 5.7%; Among them, exports of clothing, plastic products, and furniture reached 241.85 billion, 170.24 billion, and 107.26 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 6.7%, 11.1%, and 0.8%.

The sixth is the increase in imports of energy products, consumer goods, and other related products. According to import and export data, in the first quarter, China imported a total of 758.72 billion yuan of energy products such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal, an increase of 9.1% year-on-year, accounting for 17.9% of the total import value. During the same period, imported consumer goods amounted to 478.74 billion yuan, an increase of 6.9%; Among them, the import of meat and edible aquatic products reached 50.15 billion and 31.46 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 22.5% and 21.9%.

2、 Some enterprises still face difficulties such as order reduction and difficulty in repaying debts

In the positive trend, China's foreign trade is also facing some pain points and difficulties. Firstly, the weakening of external demand caused by high global inflation and weak growth in major economies has had a direct impact on China's foreign trade; Secondly, regional protectionism and geopolitical risks have further increased the instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability of the global economy; Thirdly, the outflow of low-end industrial chains has led to a decrease of over 50% in traditional product orders, as well as an increase in trade risks such as poor payment collection in some countries. Some small and medium-sized enterprises have had to lay off a large number of employees, suspend production, and close down during holidays.

Due to the halving of orders from Europe and America, some companies immediately switched to ASEAN and Russia, which were originally not high in share. To this end, enterprises use lower costs to find markets with faster demand growth and corresponding hot products, and then find matching buyers through hierarchical management, which has become a necessary way to break the situation.