General

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, China's foreign trade performance report for the first quarter was released recently. Import and export data showed that China's import and export of goods amounted to 9.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, showing a stable development trend overall. The year-on-year growth rate of 15.5% in March exceeded industry expectations. The rebound in import and export growth rate in March is not only due to a relatively low base compared to the same period last year, but also supported by factors such as the concentrated release of accumulated orders, smoother cross-border transportation, initial results of group trips to the sea, and a rebound in enterprise expectations. "Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, introduced at a regular press conference on April 20th that the three growth drivers are playing and will continue to play an important role.

Specifically, Shu Jueting introduced that firstly, the vitality of the subject has been enhanced. According to import and export data, the number of foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance in the first quarter increased by 5.9% year-on-year, an increase of 25000 compared to the same period last year; The import and export of private enterprises increased by 14.4%, accounting for 52.4% of China's import and export, an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year. According to import and export data, the second is the continuous improvement of product structure. The export growth of high value-added products such as automobiles has not decreased, and the export volume of automobiles increased by 96.6% in the first quarter. The "new three types" of competitive advantages, such as electric vehicles, photovoltaics, and lithium batteries, continue to be released. Import and export data shows that the total export growth in the first quarter was 66.9%, driving the overall growth of China's exports by 2 percentage points. The third is the gradual release of market potential. In March, China's imports and exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa increased by 27.5%, 18.6%, and 29.4%, respectively, partially offsetting the impact of weak demand in traditional markets.

At the same time, Shu Jueting reminded that, on the whole, constraints such as the global economic downturn, insufficient external demand, the impact of unilateralism and protectionism, and geopolitical risks still exist, and the trade development environment is still severe and complex. The Ministry of Commerce will resolutely implement the deployment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, work with relevant departments in various regions to solidly implement various policies to stabilize foreign trade, increase efforts to support enterprises, continuously stimulate new momentum in foreign trade, fully promote the stability of foreign trade scale and optimization of structure, and make more contributions to consolidating the recovery of the national economy towards a positive trend.