China's foreign trade sustains growth as economic recovery consolidates

Aerial photo taken on June 9, 2022 shows a container terminal in Qingdao Port, east China's Shandong Province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- China's foreign trade sustained growth momentum in the first eight months of the year, a positive indicator of economic recovery, as the government continues to roll out measures to spur economic growth and stabilize foreign trade.

China's foreign trade in goods jumped 10.1 percent year on year to 27.3 trillion yuan (about 3.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months, official data showed Wednesday.

In U.S. dollar terms, total foreign trade came in at 4.19 trillion U.S. dollars in the eight months, up 9.5 percent year on year.

Exports rose 14.2 percent year on year to 15.48 trillion yuan. Imports increased 5.2 percent from a year ago to 11.82 trillion yuan, leading to a trade surplus of 3.66 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In August alone, the country's foreign trade volume climbed 8.6 percent year on year to 3.71 trillion yuan, with the exports and imports up 11.8 percent and 4.6 percent from a year ago, respectively.

From January to August, China's trade with its top three trading partners -- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, and the United States -- grew 14 percent, 9.5 percent, and 10.1 percent, respectively.

In the period, China's trade with Belt and Road countries soared 20.2 percent year on year to 8.77 trillion yuan.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products expanded by 9.8 percent to account for 56.5 percent of the total, and exports of labor-intensive products jumped 14.1 percent from a year ago.

"The steady growth of China's foreign trade in the first eight months came as the country continued to roll out policies to stabilize foreign trade and coordinate pandemic control with economic and social development," said Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC.

On top of delivering a policy package for stabilizing the economy in May, China unveiled an additional 19 follow-up policies to shape greater synergy, according to the decision made at an executive meeting of the State Council in August.

The country's commerce ministry vowed to nurture new business models such as cross-border e-commerce and market purchase trade to stabilize foreign trade. The ministry will also offer more support to the exports of new-energy vehicles, said assistant commerce minister Li Fei at a press conference Monday.

He said steps would also follow to make it more convenient for foreign trade enterprises to do business overseas and help them cope with financial risks.

Private enterprises saw imports and exports increase 14.9 percent from a year ago to 13.68 trillion yuan in the first eight months, accounting for 50.1 percent of the country's total.

"The country's private enterprises reflect the vitality of China's foreign trade by demonstrating strong flexibility and adaptability in the face of a complex external environment," said Li Kuiwen. He noted that the foreign trade growth of private enterprises had outpaced the country's overall growth in the first eight months.

The trade value of foreign-invested firms rose 2.4 percent, and that of state-owned enterprises was up 15.1 percent in the same period.