General

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, on January 13, the General Administration of Customs issued a report on the import and export of foreign trade in 2022, which showed that the total import and export value of China's goods trade in 2022 was 42.07 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7% over 2021. Among them, exports reached 23.97 trillion yuan, up 10.5%; Import was 18.1 trillion yuan, up 4.3%. It is worth noting that this is also the first time that China's total import and export value has exceeded 40 trillion yuan, realizing the status of being the world's largest trading country in goods for six consecutive years.

Scale to a new level

At the press conference on the import and export situation in 2022 held by the State Administration of Foreign Affairs on the same day, Lv Daliang, the spokesman of the General Administration of Customs, said that in 2022, in the face of the complex and severe domestic and international situation, China will coordinate the domestic and international situation, the epidemic prevention and control, the economic and social development, and the development and security. The import and export of foreign trade will withstand the impact of multiple unexpected factors, and the scale will reach a new level.

Lv Daliang said that in 2022, China's total import and export value exceeded 40 trillion yuan for the first time. On the basis of the high base in 2021, China continued to maintain stable growth, and its scale reached a new record high. It maintained its status as the world's largest trading country in goods for six consecutive years. "The import and export are resilient and large-scale."

From a quarterly perspective, the total value of imports and exports in the first and second quarters exceeded 9 trillion yuan and 10 trillion yuan respectively, and the total value of imports and exports in the third quarter increased to 11.3 trillion yuan, becoming a new high in the scale of the quarter. The total value of imports and exports in the fourth quarter continued to maintain the level of 11 trillion yuan.

"Despite the triple pressures of demand contraction, supply shock and weakening expectations, China's foreign trade import and export still showed strong resilience, and handed over a bright report card in the face of many difficulties and challenges," Lu Daliang said.

Steady improvement of quality

While the scale has maintained steady growth, the quality of China's foreign trade has also been steadily improved.

Specifically, the structure of trading partners is excellent and the growth potential is good. According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2022, China's imports and exports to ASEAN, the EU and the United States will reach 6.52 trillion, 5.65 trillion and 5.05 trillion yuan respectively, up 15%, 5.6% and 3.7% respectively. Over the same period, China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by 19.4%, accounting for 32.9% of China's total foreign trade, an increase of 3.2 percentage points; Import and export to other members of RCEP increased by 7.5%.

General trade grew rapidly and its proportion increased. In 2022, China's general trade import and export will reach 26.81 trillion yuan, up 11.5%, accounting for 63.7% of the total import and export value, up 2.2 percentage points; Among them, exports reached 15.25 trillion yuan, up 15.4%; Import reached 11.56 trillion yuan, up 6.7%. During the same period, the import and export of processing trade amounted to 8.45 trillion yuan, accounting for 20.1% of the total import and export value.

The number of foreign trade entities has increased and their vitality is strong. In 2022, there were 598000 foreign trade enterprises with import and export achievements, an increase of 5.6%. Among them, there were 510000 private enterprises, an increase of 7%, import and export of 21.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.9%, accounting for 50.9% of the total import and export value, an increase of 2.3 percentage points. During the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises was 13.82 trillion yuan, and that of state-owned enterprises was 6.77 trillion yuan, accounting for 32.9% and 16.1% of the total import and export value respectively.

In terms of products, China's exports of industrial products will increase by 9.9% in 2022, driving the overall export growth by 9.4 percentage points. The export of labor-intensive products has maintained a rapid growth. The export growth of green and low-carbon products such as solar cells, lithium batteries, and electric passenger cars has exceeded 60%, and the export of new energy has grown rapidly. According to the latest data, China's export international market share is 14.7%, ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years.

Stable foreign trade has solid support in 2023

Looking forward to 2023, Lv Daliang pointed out that the current foundation of China's economic recovery is still not solid, the external environment is volatile, the downward pressure of the world economy is increasing, and China's foreign trade development is still facing many difficulties and challenges. While facing up to these difficulties and challenges, we should also see that China's economy has strong resilience, great potential and vitality, and the fundamentals of long-term improvement remain unchanged.

At the routine press conference of the Ministry of Commerce the day before, Shu Jueting, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, also said that the task of maintaining stability and improving the quality of foreign trade was still very arduous. At present, the rising risk of global economic recession and the sustained slowdown in the growth of external demand are the biggest pressures on the steady growth of foreign trade. Some industries have weak demand and insufficient orders.

Shu Jueting also pointed out that in recent years, many places have actively organized foreign trade enterprises to "go out" and "invite in" overseas merchants. The implementation of a series of trade promotion measures has greatly increased the channels and confidence of foreign trade enterprises to expand the market and receive orders. Enterprises group charter flights, appear at exhibitions, visit customers, negotiate cooperation, actively embrace overseas markets, and the foreign trade circle is more active at the end of the year. From the situation of the sample foreign trade enterprises tracked and monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, there have been some positive signals, especially the situation of receiving orders from major export provinces has improved.

With regard to the trend of foreign trade in the next stage, Lv Daliang believes that China's foreign trade development is still facing many difficulties and challenges. At the same time, China's economy is expected to pick up overall this year. There are also many favorable conditions for foreign trade development. There is solid support to promote the stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.