In RMB terms, China's total goods trade import-export value reached 29.57 trillion yuan in the first eight months of this year, up 3.5% year-on-year, maintaining the same growth rate as the January-July period.
Exports: Growth slightly slowed by 0.4 percentage points to 6.9% compared with the first seven months.
Imports: The decline narrowed by 0.4 percentage points to 1.2%, helping sustain the steady growth momentum of foreign trade.
This year, despite sluggish global economic growth and numerous external unstable and uncertain factors, China's foreign trade has maintained overall stability. Where does the "support" come from?
"Internal growth momentum, an overall improvement in global competitiveness, and the continuous implementation of favorable policies are the 'confidence' for China's foreign trade to cope with external shocks and challenges," said Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. He analyzed that this latest report card has four main highlights.
China's foreign trade exports have grown for six consecutive months, fully demonstrating that "Made in China" remains a global "must-have". In the first eight months of this year, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 9.2%, accounting for more than 60% of total exports. Among them, the exports of integrated circuits and automobiles grew significantly, with growth rates reaching 23.3% and 11.9% respectively. During the same period, China's exports of pet economy goods totaled over 10 billion yuan, and were sold to more than 180 countries and regions.
The recovery and improvement of domestic production and consumption have driven the cumulative import growth rate to increase month by month. In August, the import volume of bulk commodities increased, and the import quantity of some components grew rapidly. The import growth rate of sports goods, fresh and dried fruits and other goods closely related to people's lives reached double digits.
The central and western regions are releasing their foreign trade potential at a higher growth rate. In the first eight months, the foreign trade volume of the central and western regions increased by 10.4% year-on-year. While leading the national growth rate, the scale exceeded 5 trillion yuan, reaching a new high for the same period in history, and the proportion of the national foreign trade volume increased to 18%. Among them, the foreign trade growth rate of 12 provinces was higher than the national average.
The vitality of private enterprises in foreign trade continues to increase. In the first eight months, among the top 500 enterprises in terms of import and export volume in China, private enterprises accounted for 219, an increase of 20 compared with the same period last year. During the same period, the import and export volume of private enterprises increased by 7.4% year-on-year, accounting for 57.1% of the total import and export volume of China. In high-tech product imports and exports, private enterprises accounted for nearly half.
Lyu Daliang, director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, said that a large number of foreign trade enterprises have been actively expanding diversified markets, significantly enhancing their independent research and development capabilities, accelerating the pace of product transformation and upgrading, and constantly providing high-quality supplies to meet international market demands. While winning global favor, they have demonstrated strong competitiveness.
In Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, which is home to thousands of stationery and cultural and creative enterprises, the export of stationery is accelerating. With the arrival of the back-to-school season, the consumption of student supplies such as clothing, bags, and stationery is heating up. In one stationery enterprise, dozens of workers produce about 1.5 million pencils every day, which will soon be sent to Spain.
The enterprise's manager, Zhao Zheng, said that customers in the European and American markets have high requirements for product materials and craftsmanship, and the profit margins are also relatively high. A new product made of imported European linden wood and using gilding technology sells about 5 million pieces per month. Currently, orders from the European and American markets have increased from 10% of the company's total to 30%.
Entering August, the back-to-school economy combined with domestic trends has driven the rapid growth of some stationery exports. According to customs statistics, in the first eight months of this year, China's exports of pens and their parts reached 19.15 billion yuan, an increase of 1.4%.
Bai Ming said that from the perspective of medium and long-term trend characteristics, China's advantage of having a complete industrial system is obvious, and the promotion of high-level opening up will not change. With the continuous effectiveness of policies to stabilize foreign trade, there are still many favorable conditions for the steady development of foreign trade.
