Hongjing

Source: Xinhua News Agency

The State Council Information Office recently held a press conference on the import and export situation in the first half of 2020. Data shows that in the first half of this year, China's total import and export value of goods was 14.24 trillion yuan, down 3.2% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 1.7 percentage points compared to the first five months. Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis, said that China's foreign trade import and export in the first half of the year performed better than expected.

Since the beginning of this year, China has comprehensively promoted the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development, has conscientiously done a good job in the "six stability" work, and has fully implemented the "six guarantees" tasks, resulting in better than expected foreign trade import and export. According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, China's total import and export value of goods was 14.24 trillion yuan, down 3.2% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 1.7 percentage points compared to the first five months. Among them, exports were 7.71 trillion yuan, down 3%; imports were 6.53 trillion yuan, down 3.3%. Specifically, the import and export of China's foreign trade in the first half of this year has the following seven characteristics:

First, foreign trade imports and exports in the first half of the year performed better than expected.Both exports and imports achieved positive growth in June. From a quarterly perspective, after experiencing fluctuations in the first quarter, imports and exports have stabilized in the second quarter. In the second quarter of this year, China's foreign trade imports and exports totaled 7.67 trillion yuan, down 0.2% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 6.3 percentage points compared to the first quarter. From a monthly perspective, exports have seen positive growth for three consecutive months since April, with imports and exports in June up 5.1% year-on-year, including a 4.3% increase in exports and a 6.2% increase in imports.

Second, the import and export of private enterprises showed counter-cyclical growth, and their role in stabilizing foreign trade growth has become more prominent.In the first half of the year, private enterprises, as the largest operator in foreign trade, had imports and exports of 6.42 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.9%, accounting for 45.1% of China's total foreign trade, an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, exports were 4.14 trillion yuan, up 3.2%, accounting for 53.7% of total exports; imports were 2.28 trillion yuan, up 8.1%, accounting for 34.9% of total imports. During the same period, foreign-invested enterprises accounted for 39% of total imports and exports at 5.55 trillion yuan. State-owned enterprises accounted for 15.6% with 2.22 trillion yuan in imports and exports.

Third, imports and exports to ASEAN continued to grow, and ASEAN became China's largest trading partner.In the first half of the year, China's imports and exports to ASEAN were 2.09 trillion yuan, up 5.6%, accounting for 14.7% of China's total foreign trade; imports and exports to the European Union were 1.99 trillion yuan, down 1.8%; imports and exports to the United States were 1.64 trillion yuan, down 6.6%. In addition, China's imports and exports to countries along the Belt and Road totaled 4.2 trillion yuan, down 0.9%, with a decline 2.3 percentage points lower than the overall decline.

Fourth, the proportion of general trade imports and exports increased, and the structure of trade methods continued to improve.In the first half of the year, China's general trade imports and exports totaled 8.55 trillion yuan, down 2.6%, accounting for 60.1% of China's total foreign trade, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, exports were 4.56 trillion yuan, down 2%; imports were 3.99 trillion yuan, down 3.2%. Processing trade imports and exports totaled 3.36 trillion yuan, down 8%, accounting for 23.6%.

Fifth, imports and exports in central and western China maintained growth, and the domestic regional layout became more balanced.In the first half of the year, China's foreign trade imports and exports in the eastern region totaled 11.39 trillion yuan, down 4.7%, while imports and exports in the central and western regions totaled 2.38 trillion yuan, up 5.7%, accounting for 16.7% of China's total foreign trade, an increase of 1.4 percentage points.

Sixth, exports of epidemic prevention materials and "home economy" products grew rapidly, and the decline in exports of electromechanical products and labor-intensive products was lower than the overall decline.In the first half of the year, exports of textiles, including masks, increased by 32.4%, exports of medical materials and medicines and medical instruments and equipment increased by 23.6% and 46.4% respectively, and the increase in "home economy" consumption drove exports of laptops and Mobile phones up by 9.1% and 0.2% respectively. During the same period, China's exports of electromechanical products totaled 4.52 trillion yuan, down 2.3%, accounting for 58.6% of total exports; exports of seven major categories of labor-intensive products such as textiles and clothing totaled 1.5 trillion yuan, down 1.4%, accounting for 19.4%.

Seventh, the volume of import and export freight increased, and the import volume of major bulk commodities and key agricultural products increased.In the first half of the year, the volume of import and export freight under customs supervision totaled 2.33 billion tons, an increase of 6.6%. Among them, imports totaled 1.56 billion tons, an increase of 8.3%. In terms of major commodities, imports of iron ore totaled 547 million tons, an increase of 9.6%; imports of crude oil totaled 269 million tons, an increase of 9.9%; imports of coal totaled 174 million tons, an increase of 12.7%; and imports of natural gas totaled 48.359 million tons, an increase of 3.3%. During the same period, the import of some agricultural products increased, including 45.044 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 17.9%; 2.123 million tons of pork, an increase of 1.4 times; and 997,000 tons of beef, an increase of 42.9%.

Currently, the world impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic is undergoing profound changes, with the global economy experiencing a deep recession, international trade and investment contracting sharply, and the external environment for China's foreign trade development is becoming severe and complex. The customs will adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guidance, and in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, focus on the "six stability" and "six guarantees," maintain confidence in development, actively respond to difficulties and challenges, and make every effort to coordinate epidemic prevention and control at ports and promote stable growth in foreign trade, further optimize the business environment at ports, help enterprises explore international markets, strive to stabilize the basic foundation of China's foreign trade, promote steady improvement in foreign trade, and make greater contributions to achieving the goals and tasks for economic and social development this year.