General

The General Administration of Customs released import and export data on the 9th, showing that in the first four months of this year, China's total import and export value was 13.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. Among them, exports reached 7.67 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.6%; Import reached 5.65 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.02%.

In April, China's imports and exports reached 3.43 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.9%. According to import and export data, exports reached 2.02 trillion yuan, an increase of 16.8%; Import reached 1.41 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.8%; The trade surplus was 618.44 billion yuan, an increase of 96.5%.

Lv Daliang, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, stated that since the beginning of this year, China's economic development has shown a rebound and positive trend, and the economic operation has achieved a good start. The year-on-year growth rate of imports and exports in the first four months has accelerated by 1 percentage point compared to the first quarter. The monthly customs survey shows that the proportion of enterprises with increased export orders has increased for four consecutive months, and the trend of stable and positive foreign trade has further continued.

In the context of sluggish global economic growth, liquidity contraction, and sustained high inflation in major developed economies, China's foreign trade has not only achieved rapid growth in scale, but also continuously optimized its export structure.

The proportion of general trade imports and exports has increased. According to import and export data, in the first four months, China's general trade import and export reached 8.72 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5%, accounting for 65.4% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Among them, exports reached 5.01 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.1%; Import reached 3.71 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.8%. During the same period, the import and export of processing trade reached 2.38 trillion yuan, a decrease of 9.8%, accounting for 17.9%.

Growth in imports and exports to ASEAN and the European Union. In the first four months, ASEAN continued to maintain its position as China's largest trading partner, with a total trade value between China and ASEAN of 2.09 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.9%, accounting for 15.7% of China's total foreign trade value. Among them, exports to ASEAN reached 1.27 trillion yuan, an increase of 24.1%; Import from ASEAN reached 820.3 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1%; The trade surplus with ASEAN reached 451.55 billion yuan, expanding by 111.4%. The EU is my second largest trading partner, with a total trade value of 1.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.2%, accounting for 13.5%. The United States is my third largest trading partner, with a total trade value of 1.5 trillion yuan, a decrease of 4.2%, accounting for 11.2%.

Over the same period, China's imports and exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" totaled 4.61 trillion yuan, an increase of 16%. Among them, exports reached 2.76 trillion yuan, an increase of 26%; Import reached 1.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.8%. According to statistics, in the first four months, China's imports and exports to the five Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and to West Asian and North African countries such as Saudi Arabia increased by 37.4% and 9.6%, respectively.

The proportion of imports and exports of private enterprises exceeds 50%. According to import and export data, in the first four months, private enterprises imported and exported 7.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.8%, accounting for 52.9% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 4.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The import and export of state-owned enterprises reached 2.18 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.7%, accounting for 16.4% of China's total foreign trade value. During the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises reached 4.06 trillion yuan, a decrease of 8.2%, accounting for 30.5% of China's total foreign trade value.

On April 25th, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Stability, Scale, and Structure of Foreign Trade", which includes strengthening trade promotion and expanding markets, stabilizing and expanding the import and export scale of key products, increasing fiscal and financial support, accelerating the innovative development of foreign trade, optimizing the environment for foreign trade development, and making work arrangements to ensure the achievement of the goal of promoting stability and quality in import and export. Lv Daliang stated that private enterprises are the largest body of China's foreign trade, and import and export have maintained a good momentum. With the implementation of relevant policies and measures to promote the stability, scale, and structure of foreign trade, the confidence and vitality of China's foreign trade enterprises will be greatly boosted and released, which will effectively promote the stability and quality of foreign trade promotion throughout the year.

It is worth noting that automobiles have once again become one of the core driving forces for China's exports. According to import and export data, in the first four months, China's export of mechanical and electrical products reached 4.44 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.5%, accounting for 57.9% of the total export value. Among them, automobiles reached 204.53 billion yuan, an increase of 120.3%. Experts say that with favorable policies and the development advantages accumulated by China's new energy vehicles, automobile exports will continue to maintain a good growth trend in the future. In addition, exports of labor-intensive products such as clothing and clothing accessories, and plastic products have also maintained rapid growth.

Wei Hao, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beijing Normal University and director of the National Import Research Center, stated that the successive introduction of a new round of stable foreign trade policies will help China achieve stable development in foreign trade imports and exports. The increase in the proportion of general trade imports and exports and the continuous increase in the proportion of private enterprises in foreign trade reflect the accelerating transformation of China's foreign trade development mode, and also demonstrate the enormous resilience of China's industrial chain and the international competitiveness of the manufacturing industry.

For the unexpected growth of exports in April, experts said that in addition to the low export base in the same period last year, the backlog of export orders caused by the epidemic at the end of last year and the beginning of this year also provided some support for export growth. Based on comprehensive analysis, it is expected that the trend of rapid growth in foreign trade imports and exports will continue, which will help promote the stability and quality of foreign trade throughout the year.