On May 7, the General Administration of Customs released data showing that in the first four months of this year, China ’s total import and export value of goods trade was 9.07 trillion yuan, a decrease of 4.9% from the same period last year, and the decrease was 1.5 percentage points narrower than the first quarter. Among them, the export in April was 1.41 trillion yuan, which increased from a year-on-year decrease of 3.5% in March to an increase of 8.2%. On the same day, the Ministry of Commerce stated that it would also launch multiple measures to increase the stability of foreign trade in terms of precisely helping enterprises, supporting export to domestic sales, and stabilizing international logistics.
According to reports, while the total volume of imports and exports has steadily rebounded, China's foreign trade has also shown many bright spots in its structure. From the perspective of trade methods, the proportion of general trade imports and exports has increased. In the first 4 months, China ’s general trade imports and exports reached 5.43 trillion yuan, down 4.6%, accounting for 59.8% of China ’s total foreign trade, up 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year. During the same period, imports and exports of processing trade were 2.18 trillion yuan, down 8.4%.
From the perspective of cooperation partners, China's imports and exports to ASEAN and countries along the “Belt and Road” have grown against the trend. Statistics show that in the first 4 months, ASEAN was my largest trading partner. The total value of trade with ASEAN was 1.35 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.7%, accounting for 14.9% of my total foreign trade value. My total imports and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” route were 2.76 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.9%, accounting for 30.4% of my total foreign trade value, and the proportion increased by 1.7 percentage points.
From the perspective of trade entities, the import and export of private enterprises have increased and their proportion has increased. In the first 4 months, the import and export of private enterprises was 3.92 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.5%, accounting for 43.2% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the same period last year.
In addition, from the perspective of main products, exports of electromechanical products and clothing declined, and textile exports increased. Imports of iron ore, crude oil, coal, natural gas, soybeans and other commodities increased, and the average price of bulk commodity imports rose and fell.
The analysis generally believes that the global spread of the epidemic has an impact on foreign trade patterns. The ASEAN and other regions less affected by the epidemic have increased imports and exports faster, and are the main regions driving China's export growth. However, the impact of weakened global demand on exports may also appear, and the possibility of future export decline is greater.
Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that although the decline in foreign trade data narrowed in April, the development of foreign trade still faces greater downward pressure. "From the perspective of the recent surveys conducted by the Ministry of Commerce on key provinces, cities, import and export chambers of commerce and key enterprises, foreign trade companies still face many difficulties such as cancellation or extension of orders in hand, difficulties in signing new orders, and poor logistics."
Gao Feng said that it is necessary to fully estimate the difficulties, risks and uncertainties of the epidemic situation, to effectively enhance the sense of urgency, and to further do a good job in stabilizing foreign trade. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will play a role in the coordination mechanism of foreign trade and foreign investment in accordance with the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focusing on supporting enterprises to develop international markets, helping enterprises to better complete orders on hand, obtain new orders, and respond to the impact of international epidemics.
