The State Council Information Office held a press conference on October 13, where the General Administration of Customs introduced China’s import and export situation of goods trade for the first three quarters of this year.
According to the introduction, since the beginning of this year, China’s foreign trade has advanced under pressure amidst a complex external environment, continuing its development momentum of stability and improvement.
According to customs statistics, in the first three quarters of this year, China’s total import and export value of goods trade was 33.61 trillion yuan (the same unit applies below), a year-on-year increase of 4%. Exports reached 19.95 trillion yuan, up 7.1%; imports were 13.66 trillion yuan, down 0.2%. In September alone, the total import and export value was 4.04 trillion yuan, an increase of 8%.
Specifically, there are five main characteristics:
First, the import and export growth rate accelerated quarter by quarter. In the first, second, and third quarters of this year, China’s imports and exports grew by 1.3%, 4.5%, and 6% respectively, achieving year-on-year growth for eight consecutive quarters.
Second, market diversification continued to advance. In the first three quarters, China’s imports and exports with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 17.37 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.2%, accounting for 51.7% of the total import and export value, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Imports and exports with ASEAN, Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia increased by 9.6%, 3.9%, 19.5%, and 16.7% respectively. Imports and exports with other APEC economies grew by 2%.
Third, export products are becoming newer and more advanced. In the first three quarters, China exported 12.07 trillion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 9.6%, accounting for 60.5% of the total export value, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Among them, exports of high-tech products such as electronic information, high-end equipment, and instrumentation increased by 8.1%, 22.4%, and 15.2% respectively; the growth rates of green products such as the “New Three” products and railway electric locomotives all reached double digits.
Fourth, import operations gradually recovered. As domestic demand potential was effectively released, imports in the second quarter increased by 0.3% year-on-year, and the growth rate further accelerated to 4.7% in the third quarter. In the third quarter, the import volume of crude oil and metal ores increased by 4.9% and 10.1% year-on-year respectively; the import value of metrological testing instruments, computers, and communication equipment increased by 9.3% and 8.9% respectively.
Fifth, foreign trade entities were active and vibrant. In the first three quarters, the number of foreign trade enterprises in China with actual import and export performance reached 700,000, an increase of 52,000 year-on-year. Among them, there were 613,000 private enterprises, with imports and exports of 19.16 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.8%; there were 80,000 foreign-invested enterprises, with imports and exports of 9.82 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.1%.
The General Administration of Customs stated that overall, in the first three quarters, the majority of foreign trade enterprises actively adapted to changes and explored innovations. China’s foreign trade demonstrated resilience and structural optimization, achieving simultaneous growth in volume and quality, and the results were hard-won.
At the same time, it must be noted that the current external environment remains severe and complex, with increasing uncertainties and difficulties facing foreign trade, coupled with objective factors such as the high base from the previous year. Stabilizing foreign trade development in the fourth quarter still requires arduous efforts.
Customs will resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, further improve supervision efficiency and strengthen border barriers, further promote trade facilitation and enhance service levels, further comprehensively deepen reforms and support high-level opening up, making customs contributions to stabilizing the volume and improving the quality of foreign trade for the whole year.
