General

Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and Director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis, introduced at a press conference on the import and export situation in the first three quarters of the State Information Office on October 13. An increase of 22.7% in the same period last year. my country continues to maintain its status as the largest country in trade in goods. The overall upward trend of my country's foreign trade will not change, and it is still expected to achieve rapid growth throughout the year.

From the perspective of specific export commodities, exports of automobiles, medical materials and medicines performed well, and they all doubled year-on-year in the first three quarters.

Imports and exports in the first three quarters increased by more than 20% year-on-year

"The continuous recovery of the domestic economy has laid a solid foundation for the continued growth of foreign trade." Li Kuiwen said, according to customs statistics, the total value of my country's import and export of goods in the first three quarters was 28.33 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.7% over the same period last year. Among them, exports were 15.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.7%; imports were 12.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.6%. Compared with the same period in 2019, my country's foreign trade imports and exports, exports, and imports increased by 23.4%, 24.5% and 22% respectively.

Li Kuiwen said that in the first three quarters, the scale of my country's foreign trade import and export increased quarter by quarter, and the quarterly imports and exports reached 8.51 trillion yuan, 9.59 trillion yuan and 10.23 trillion yuan. my country's foreign trade performance is leading the world's major economies, which is also reflected in the increase in international market share. According to the latest data calculations, in the first half of this year, the international market share of my country's imports and exports, exports and imports were approximately 13.2%, 14.5%, and 12%, respectively, up 0.8, 0.9, and 0.8 percentage points year-on-year. my country continues to maintain its status as the largest country in trade in goods.

In terms of exports, exports of automobiles, medical materials and medicines performed well, and they all doubled year-on-year in the first three quarters. Li Kuiwen said that the global economy and trade have picked up, and the increase in international market demand is good for my country's exports.

According to Li Kuiwen, exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products have both increased year-on-year. In the first three quarters, my country’s exports of mechanical and electrical products were 9.15 trillion yuan, an increase of 23%, which was 0.3 percentage points higher than the overall export growth rate and accounted for 58.8% of the total export value. Among them, automatic data processing equipment and its parts, mobile phones, and automobiles increased by 12%, 14.4%, and 107%, respectively. In the same period, exports of labor-intensive products increased by 9.5%, and pharmaceutical materials and medicines increased by 108%.

In terms of imports, Li Kuiwen introduced that in the first three quarters of this year, the scale of my country's imports hit a record high over the same period in history. According to customs statistics, in the first three quarters, my country's imports were 12.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.6%, and an increase of 22% compared with the same period in 2019. Our country's strong domestic market has contributed to the creation of global total demand.

"The rise in international commodity prices has become an important factor in pushing up the value of imports." Li Kuiwen said that as of mid-October, the Reuters CRB Index, which reflects the prices of commodities in the international market, has risen by more than 40% compared to the end of last year, compared with the lowest level last year. The point increase is more than 130%. In the first three quarters of this year, due to the impact of rising international commodity prices, my country's import prices rose by 11.3% year-on-year. Among them, the average import price of iron ore, crude oil, copper and other commodities increased by more than 30%.

From the perspective of my country's imports of specific commodities, Li Kuiwen said that in the first three quarters, the import volume of some bulk commodities decreased in price. In the first three quarters, the customs-supervised import and export cargo volume was 3.74 billion tons, an increase of 3% year-on-year (the same below), of which imports were 2.43 billion tons, a decrease of 0.5%. Specifically, my country imported 842 million tons of iron ore, a decrease of 3%, and the average price was 1159.8 yuan per ton, an increase of 67.5%; crude oil was 387 million tons, a decrease of 6.8%, and the average price was 3082.5 yuan per ton, an increase of 32.8%; natural gas was 8,985. 10,000 tons, an increase of 22.2%, an average price of 2491.9 yuan per ton, an increase of 5.1%; soybeans, 73.973 million tons, a decrease of 0.7%, an average price of 3509.8 yuan per ton, an increase of 29.4%; copper 4.019 million tons, a decrease of 19.5%, an average price per ton Tons was 60,400 yuan, an increase of 37.9%.

Foreign trade is expected to achieve rapid growth throughout the year

In terms of quarters, Li Kuiwen said that the total value of imports and exports in the first quarter, second quarter, and third quarter of this year were 8.51 trillion yuan, 9.59 trillion yuan, and 10.23 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.7%, 25.2% and 15.2% respectively. The growth rate showed a trend of declining quarter by quarter. On a monthly basis, imports and exports in September increased by 15.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 3.5 percentage points lower than that in August.

Looking to the future, Li Kuiwen believes that there are many favorable and unfavorable factors affecting the development of foreign trade. On the one hand, the fundamentals of my country's long-term economic improvement have not changed, and the development trend of steady and qualitative increases in foreign trade volume is well supported. On the other hand, the global epidemic is fluctuating, the world economy is struggling to recover, and the external environment has become more complicated and severe. my country’s foreign trade development still faces many unstable and uncertain factors. According to customs data, the year-on-year growth rates of my country’s imports and exports in the first, second and third quarters of this year were 29.7%, 25.2% and 15.2% respectively, showing a gradual decline.

Looking at the data in September, the General Administration of Customs released data on October 13, showing that in RMB terms, my country’s total import and export value was 35328.8 billion yuan in September, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. Among them, the total value of exports was 1983.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.9%; imports were 1,549.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. The trade surplus was 433.19 billion yuan.

In terms of U.S. dollars, in September, my country’s total import and export value was 544.72 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.3%. Among them, the total value of exports was US$305.74 billion, a year-on-year increase of 28.1%; imports were US$238.98 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%. The trade surplus was 66.76 billion U.S. dollars.

"Considering the impact of the high base of foreign trade in 2020, the growth rate of imports and exports may decline in the fourth quarter of this year, but the overall upward trend of my country's foreign trade will not change, and rapid growth throughout the year is still expected." Li Kuiwen predicts.