News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 08 Sep 2023

China's foreign trade value stays flat over Jan-Aug

China's foreign trade value remained largely unchanged year-on-year over January-August, witnessing a minuscule 0.1% dip to reach Yuan 27.08 trillion ($3.89 trillion), the latest data released by the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC) on Thursday indicated. Within the total, exports edged up by 0.8% on year to Yuan 15.47 trillion, while imports declined 1.3% on year to Yuan 11.61 trillion, the statistics show.

Over the past eight months, Chinese exports and imports fell by 5.6% and 7.6% respectively on year in US dollar terms, according to GACC, and total trade value decreased by 6.5% on year. 

For August alone, China's foreign trade value amounted to Yuan 3.59 trillion, slipping 2.5% on year though this was higher by 3.9% on month. Within the totals, the value of exports slid 3.2% on year but rose 1.2% from July at Yuan 2.04 trillion, while imports were lower by 1.6% on year but up 7.6% on month at Yuan 1.55 trillion, the GACC data showed. 

The latest release indicated that China's top trade partner over January-August was the ASEAN region, with the value of two-way trade totalling Yuan 4.11 trillion, up 1.6% on year and accounting for 15.2% of the total trade value. 

Meanwhile, the EU ranked the second-largest with a total value at Yuan 3.68 trillion, down 1.5% on year and accounting for 13.6% of the total. The third was the U.S. with the trade value falling 8.7% on year to Yuan 3.05 trillion, contributing to 11.2% of the total. 

For "Belt and Road Initiative" countries, their trade value with China came in at Yuan 12.62 trillion during the first eight months, up 3.6% on year. Their export value grew 9.4% on year to Yuan 7.01 trillion, though imports dwindled by 2.9% on year to Yuan 5.61 trillion, according to Customs. 

Among Chinese enterprises involved in foreign trade, the privately-owned firms saw their total trade value gain 6% on year to Yuan 14.33 trillion over January-August, accounting for 52.9% of the total, or 3 percentage points higher on year. 

In parallel, foreign-invested enterprises in China saw their trade value decline 9.6% on year to Yuan 8.28 trillion, accounting for 30.6% of the total, the GACC data showed. 

As for products that China exported during the first eight months, those of machinery, electrical goods and electronics dominated in terms of value, rising by 3.6% on year to Yuan 8.97 trillion, or contributing to 58% of the total exports, according to GACC. 

Among China's imports of bulk commodities during January-August, those of iron ore, crude oil, coal and natural gas all grew in volume, but unit prices moved down. Within these, coal showed the largest rise in import value and the sharpest decline in unit price, with the former soaring 82% on year to 306 million tonnes, and the latter down 20.8% on year to Yuan 812.5/t.

Source:Mysteel Global