On April 13, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference. Li Kuiwen, the relevant person in charge of the General Administration of customs, introduced that the total value of China's foreign trade import and export in the first quarter was 9.42 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.7% year-on-year, and the foreign trade import and export started smoothly.
——● highlights of the press conference——
1. In the first quarter, the total import and export value of China's goods trade was 9.42 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.7% year-on-year, with positive year-on-year growth for seven consecutive quarters;
2, one belt, one road and the other countries, has increased its import and export value with its main trading partners. The growth of import and export value of China and the European Union, South Korea and the "belt and road" countries all exceeds two figures.
3. In the first quarter, China's exports of solar cells, lithium batteries and automobiles increased by 100.8%, 53.7% and 83.4% respectively;
4. Since the first quarter of RCEP implementation, China's export enterprises have applied for 109000 RCEP certificates of origin and issued statements of origin, with a value of 37.13 billion yuan, and can enjoy a tariff reduction of 250 million yuan in the importing country. The main commodities are organic chemicals, plastics and their products, knitted or crocheted clothing, etc;
5. China's cross-border e-commerce import and export increased by 43.5% year-on-year in the first quarter. Among them, imports decreased by 4.2%;
6. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports with Russia, Ukraine and other countries maintained a year-on-year growth trend. The customs will continue to serve the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, Ukraine and other relevant countries;
7. At present, some unexpected factors in the international and domestic environment exceed expectations. The external environment of China's foreign trade is becoming more severe and complex, and its development is also facing many risks and challenges. Superimposed on last year's high base and other factors, from the monthly situation, the overall growth rate of import and export has dropped. However, from the quarterly data, China's foreign trade import and export has achieved positive year-on-year growth for seven consecutive quarters since the third quarter of 2020, which fully reflects the characteristics of strong toughness and great potential of China's foreign trade, and there is still a solid foundation for realizing the stable growth of foreign trade.
——/About Q1 achieving Quarterly "seven consecutive increases"/——
Li Kuiwen said that there are five main characteristics, including:
The import and export proportion of general trade has increased, the import and export with major trading partners have increased, the import and export toughness of foreign trade business entities is sufficient, the export of major categories of products has maintained a good trend, and the import of mechanical and electrical products and agricultural products has operated smoothly.
However, he also pointed out that some unexpected factors in the current international and domestic environment exceeded expectations, the external environment of foreign trade became more severe and complex, and development faced many risks and challenges. Superimposed on the higher foreign trade base last year, greater efforts were needed to achieve the goal of stabilizing foreign trade.
Li Kuiwen stressed that while facing these difficulties and challenges, we should also see that China's economic resilience and long-term fundamentals will not change, and China's foreign trade is still expected to maintain stable development.
——/The year-on-year growth rate of import and export exceeded two/——
In the first two months of this year, ASEAN lagged behind the EU by about 3 billion yuan and temporarily ranked as China's second largest trading partner. According to the data of the first quarter, China's import and export to ASEAN reached 1.35 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, accounting for 14.4% of China's total foreign trade; Over the same period, China's import and export to the EU reached 1.31 trillion yuan.
According to Li Kuiwen's analysis, the main supporting factors of import and export growth between China and ASEAN are:
First, RCEP officially came into force to help the economic and trade development between China and ASEAN. In the first quarter, the import and export scale between China and ASEAN accounted for 47.2% of the foreign trade scale with RCEP trading partners, accounting for nearly half.
Second, connectivity continues to provide growth impetus for trade exchanges. Relevant data show that in the first quarter of this year, 170000 TEUs of container goods were sent by the railway sea intermodal train of the new land sea channel in the west, an increase of 56.5% year-on-year. China and old fellow railways have built a convenient logistics channel between China and ASEAN. At present, many provinces and cities have launched the trans boundary freight trains between China and old fellow railways. In the first quarter, the import and export of railway transportation between China and ASEAN increased significantly by 3.5 times.
Third, the regional industrial chain has recovered steadily, and the trade of intermediate products has exceeded 60%. S & P global data show that in March this year, the manufacturing purchasing manager index of ASEAN countries was 51.7, maintaining an expansion trend, driving the growth of intermediate product trade between China and ASEAN.
Fourth, actively expand the import of agricultural products from ASEAN. As important trading partners of each other, China and ASEAN have strong economic complementarity, wide areas of cooperation and great development potential. Bilateral trade will continue to maintain a good momentum.
In addition, one belt, one road from the EU, the South Korea and the "one belt" along the way, increased import and export value by 10.2%, 12.3% and 16.7%, respectively, and achieved over two digit growth in the first quarter. Malaysia and New Zealand are among the countries with a year-on-year growth rate of trade value exceeding that of the two countries.
——/About the effectiveness of promoting RCEP/——
On January 1 this year, RCEP officially entered into force for 10 countries, followed by South Korea and Malaysia from February 1 and March 18. So far, the number of RCEP effective member states has reached 12.
Customs statistics show that in the first quarter of this year, China's imports and exports to 14 other RCEP member countries amounted to 2.86 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%, accounting for 30.4% of China's total foreign trade. Among them, the export was 1.38 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.1%; Imports reached 1.48 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.2%.
In terms of specific countries, in the first quarter, the import and export between China and South Korea and Japan accounted for 20% of the import and export scale between China and RCEP trading partners; With South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and other countries, the year-on-year growth rate of import and export exceeded double digits.
In terms of major commodities, in the first quarter, China's exports of electromechanical products and labor-intensive products to RCEP trading partners accounted for 52.1% and 17.8% respectively, of which the exports of integrated circuits, textiles, automatic data processing equipment and their parts and components increased by 25.7%, 14.1% and 7.9% respectively; Imports of mechanical and electrical products, metal ores and mineral sands and agricultural products from RCEP trading partners accounted for 48.5%, 9.6% and 6% respectively.
Customs data show that since the implementation of RCEP in the first quarter, China's export enterprises have applied for 109000 RCEP certificates of origin and issued statements of origin, with a value of 37.13 billion yuan, and can enjoy a tariff reduction of 250 million yuan in the importing country. The main commodities are organic chemicals, plastics and their products, knitted or crocheted clothing, etc. The preferential import value under RCEP is 6.72 billion yuan and the tariff reduction is 130 million yuan. The main preferential commodities are steel, plastics and their products and organic chemicals.
——about one belt, one road——
Since the "one belt, one road" one belt, one road initiative was put forward in 2013, China has been increasingly close to the trade along the "one belt and one road". According to Customs Statistics one belt, one road and 2 trillion and 930 billion countries, increased by 16.7% in the first quarter of this year. Among them, the export was 1.64 trillion yuan, an increase of 16.2%; Imports reached 1.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.4%.
It mainly presents the following characteristics:
First, the proportion in China's foreign trade has increased steadily.
In the first quarter one year, one belt, one road and one country, accounted for 31.1% of the total value of China's foreign trade and imports, and the proportion increased by 1.4 percentage points compared with 2021. It increased 6.1 percentage points compared with 2013.
Second, imports of energy products and agricultural products increased rapidly.
In the first quarter one country, along the one belt, one road, altogether imported crude oil, natural gas and coal 482 billion 980 million yuan, an increase of 52.5%, accounting for 37.4% of the total value of imports from China along the line, and the increase in China's imports from the countries along the line 15.1 percentage points. The import of agricultural products was 79.47 billion yuan, an increase of 12.2%, accounting for 6.2%.
Third, the export of mechanical and electrical products accounted for more than half, and the export of new energy products was active.
In the first quarter one belt, one road, along the border, exports 886 billion 740 million yuan, an increase of 14.2%, accounting for 54.2% of the total value of China's exports to the countries along the border, and 7.8 years of growth in China's exports to the countries along the border. Among them, the exports of solar cells and electric manned vehicles increased by 1.3 times and 9.2 times respectively. Over the same period, the export of labor-intensive products was 296.75 billion yuan, an increase of 18.2%, of which toys, bags, textiles and plastic products together drove the overall export growth of 2.6 percentage points.
Fourth, the performance of private enterprises is brilliant.
In the first quarter one belt, one road and one country along the road, increased by 20.8% yuan, which accounted for 53.7% of the total value of imports and exports between China and the countries along the line, which increased 1.8 percentage points from the same period last year. The 1 trillion and 570 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year saw a rise of about $2 billion. Over the same period, the import and export of state-owned enterprises reached 603.86 billion yuan, an increase of 23.7%.
——/On the trend of China EU trade/——
Customs statistics show that in the first quarter of this year, the import and export between China and the EU reached 1.31 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.2%, accounting for 13.9% of China's total foreign trade in the same period. Among them, the export was 864.93 billion yuan, an increase of 21%, and the import was 447.42 billion yuan, a decrease of 6%.
Specifically, China EU trade mainly has the following characteristics:
First, the import and export trade with EU Member States grew well.
Germany is the largest trading country in the EU. In the first quarter, the import and export between China and Germany reached 355.34 billion yuan, an increase of 3.5%, accounting for 27.1% of the trade scale between China and the EU; In the same period, the import and export scale with the Netherlands, France and Italy exceeded 100 billion yuan. In terms of growth rate, in the first quarter, the year-on-year growth rate of import and export between China and 14 EU member states such as Spain and Greece exceeded double digits.
Second, mechanical and electrical products exported to the EU accounted for 60%.
In the first quarter, China exported 545.62 billion yuan of mechanical and electrical products to the EU, an increase of 16.6%, accounting for 63.1% of its exports to the EU. Among them, the export of new energy products such as electric manned vehicles, solar cells and lithium-ion batteries increased by 3.8 times, 1.4 times and 66.2% respectively. Over the same period, the export of labor-intensive products to the EU was 142.25 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2%.
Third, imports of some consumer goods from the EU maintained growth.
In the first quarter, China's imports of some consumer goods from the EU maintained a growth trend, of which imports of beauty cosmetics and toiletries, bags, passenger cars and clothing increased by 11.9%, 6.6%, 4.6% and 3.6% respectively.
Overall, China EU trade maintained a good momentum of development in the first quarter. China and the EU are both major economies in the world. Their economies are highly complementary, their economic and trade exchanges are close, and they are important trading partners with great development potential and broad prospects for economic and trade cooperation.
