General

On the 9th, the General Administration of Customs released customs data showing that the total import and export value of China's goods trade in the first four months of this year was 13.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, an increase of 1 percentage point compared to the 4.8% in the first quarter. Among them, the import and export value in April was 3.43 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.9%. Under the complex and severe external environment, China's foreign trade resilience has been demonstrated.

Specifically, customs data shows that exports in the first four months reached 7.67 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%; Import reached 5.65 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.02%. The monthly customs survey shows that the proportion of enterprises with increased export orders has increased for four consecutive months.

From the perspective of trade methods, customs data shows that in the first four months, China's general trade import and export reached 8.72 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, accounting for 65.4% of China's total foreign trade value; Import and export through bonded logistics trade amounted to 1.73 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.4%.

From the perspective of exported products, customs data shows that in the first four months, China exported 4.44 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, accounting for 57.9% of the total export value. Among them, driven by the export of new energy vehicles, automobile exports increased by 120.3% year-on-year.

From the perspective of foreign trade entities, in the first four months, private enterprises imported and exported 7.05 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%, accounting for over 50% of China's total foreign trade value; There are 415000 private enterprises with import and export performance, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year, continuing to maintain China's position as the largest business entity in foreign trade.

From the perspective of trading partners, customs data shows that in the first four months, ASEAN was China's largest trading partner, with a total import and export value of 2.09 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.9%, accounting for 15.7% of China's total foreign trade value. The EU is China's second largest trading partner, with imports and exports of 1.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.2%, which is 2.2 percentage points faster than the first quarter. China's imports and exports to the United States and Japan decreased by 4.2% and 2.6% respectively.

In addition, over the same period, China's imports and exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" totaled 4.61 trillion yuan, up 16% year on year. Among them, imports and exports to Kazakhstan and other five Central Asian countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and other West Asian and North African countries, increased by 37.4% and 9.6% respectively, partially offsetting the impact of weak demand in traditional markets.

Lu Daliang, Director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, stated that China's foreign trade has continued to maintain a stable and positive momentum. The State Council has recently introduced new policies and measures to promote the stability, scale, and structure of foreign trade, which will help boost the confidence and vitality of foreign trade enterprises and promote the stability and quality of foreign trade throughout the year.