Foreign Trade Has A Strong Start And Good Momentum
The State Council Information Office held a press conference. Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, and Lu Daliang, spokesperson and director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that in the first quarter of this year, my country's import and export scale exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time in history. Export growth hit a new high in six quarters. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, my country's total import and export value of goods trade was 10.17 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%. Among them, exports were 5.74 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.9%; imports were 4.43 trillion yuan, an increase of 5%; the growth rates of exports and imports accelerated by 4.1 percentage points and 2.3 percentage points respectively compared with the fourth quarter of last year.
Wang Lingjun said that overall, my country's foreign trade had a strong start and good momentum in the first quarter, laying a solid foundation for achieving the goal of "quality improvement and quantity stability" throughout the year.
The import and export of private enterprises accounted for 54.3% of the total import and export value
Wang Lingjun said that the high-quality development of my country's foreign trade continues to take new steps, and the characteristics of "quality improvement" continue to appear, effectively consolidating the momentum of "quantity stability".
The vitality of the subjects burst out. In the first quarter, my country's private enterprises imported and exported 5.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.7%, accounting for 54.3% of the total import and export value. In the first quarter, the number of foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance increased by 8.8% year-on-year, of which the number of private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises increased by 10.4% and 1% respectively. The import and export scale of state-owned enterprises reached the highest level in the same period in history.
New momentum is gathering momentum. The export momentum of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products is good. In the first quarter, my country's exports of mechanical and electrical products were 3.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.8%, accounting for 59.2% of the total export value. Among them, computers and their parts, automobiles, and ships increased by 8.6%, 21.7%, and 113.1% respectively. During the same period, the export of labor-intensive products was 975.72 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1%. Among them, textiles and clothing, plastic products, furniture and their parts increased by 5.4%, 14%, and 23.5% respectively. The import and export of intermediate goods increased by 4.4%. Cross-border e-commerce imports and exports increased by 9.6%, of which cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouse exports increased by 11.8%.
Each region's development shows its strengths. In the first quarter, the export and import growth rates of the eastern region were 2.7 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points higher than the overall growth respectively. The manufacturing industry in the central region has a clear trend of high-end and green transformation, with exports of high-end equipment and electric vehicles increasing by 42.6% and 107.3% respectively. The western region has taken over industrial transfers in an orderly manner, and the import and export of processing trade have turned from falling to increasing. The comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China has made new progress in the field of foreign trade, with import and export scale exceeding 300 billion yuan for the first time in the first quarter.
The market layout is diversified and advancing simultaneously. In the first quarter, my country's imports and exports to countries co-building the "Belt and Road" increased by 5.5%, 0.5 percentage points higher than the overall figure; China's imports and exports to the five countries in Latin America and Central Asia all achieved double-digit growth.
How do you view the foreign trade situation in the second quarter? Wang Lingjun analyzed that overall, unfavorable factors such as geopolitical tensions and trade protectionism still exist, bringing certain difficulties and challenges to foreign trade. However, global trade is showing signs of stabilization and improvement, and the WTO predicts that global trade in goods will grow by 2.6% in 2024. China Customs trade boom survey results show that the proportion of companies reporting an increase in export and import orders in March increased significantly compared with the previous month. It is expected that my country's import and export will continue to improve in the second quarter and basically remain on the growth channel in the first half of the year.
The economy continues to rebound and improve, driving the import scale to a new high
The "Government Work Report" proposes to actively expand the import of high-quality products.
Wang Lingjun said that for a long time, our country has insisted on implementing the strategy of expanding imports, and imports have maintained a good trend.
The import market is huge. my country has been the world's second largest import market for 15 consecutive years, with a cumulative import scale of nearly 200 trillion yuan. According to preliminary estimates, my country accounted for 10.6% of the world's total import value last year, continuing to maintain a high level of more than 10%. In the first quarter of this year, my country's import scale hit a new high, and China's large market provides the world with great opportunities.
Production and consumption demand are abundant. As my country's economy continues to rebound and improve, industrial production growth accelerates, household consumption grows steadily, and demand for production and consumption is huge, driving the import of raw materials, key components and consumer goods. In the first quarter, my country's imports of energy products and metal ores increased by 8% and 5% respectively; imports of integrated circuits and semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased by 14.3% and 82.7% respectively. The import growth rate of textiles and clothing, dried and fresh fruits, beef, televisions, and racing bicycles has exceeded double digits, and the import of consumer goods such as "food, clothing, housing, and transportation" has performed relatively well.
Regional imports have diverse characteristics. The Yangtze River Delta region has demonstrated its leading role in opening up and is the most important region for the import of high-tech products, consumer goods and other related products in my country. The nine mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have outstanding advantages in the electronics industry, with imports of computer parts and accessories and integrated circuits increasing by 74.2% respectively. , 19.2%, accounting for more than 40% of the country's imports of similar products; the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region plays a prominent role in ensuring the supply of bulk commodities, responsible for more than half of the country's imports of crude oil, natural gas, and grains; the central and western regions undertake industrial transfers The pace has accelerated, and imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, flat panel display modules, etc. have achieved double-digit growth; the old industrial bases in Northeast China have been revitalized, and imports of auto parts and agricultural machinery have increased by 4.5% and 62.2% respectively, both higher than the national average. level.
Overall, my country has a very large market with rich and diverse demands and rapid release of market potential, which will continue to provide support for imports. In the next step, the customs will continue to promote quarantine access for high-quality agricultural and food products and support the expansion of imports of key components, important raw materials, and energy resources.
Imports and exports to other RCEP member countries increased by 2.7%
In the first quarter, my country's trade with countries co-building the "Belt and Road" continued to maintain a good momentum of development. From the perspective of imports, my country imported 2.14 trillion yuan from the co-founding countries, an increase of 3.6%; from the perspective of exports, China exported 2.68 trillion yuan to the co-founding countries, an increase of 7%. my country has increased industrial cooperation with co-building countries, and its exports of high-tech intermediate products such as electronic information, instrumentation, and high-end equipment to co-building countries have achieved double-digit growth. In the first quarter, my country exported 20.04 billion yuan to co-building countries in the form of foreign contracted projects. Exports of photovoltaic products exceeded 30 billion yuan, and solar, wind and other renewable energy generator sets exceeded 120,000 units.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has promoted closer trade ties among members. Lu Daliang introduced that according to customs statistics, my country's total imports and exports to the other 14 RCEP member states in the first quarter were 3.08 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.7%, accounting for 30.3% of my country's total imports and exports of goods trade.
Intra-regional contact and cooperation are closer. In the first quarter, my country's exports to other RCEP member countries were 1.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 2%. Among them, exports of intermediate products increased by 2.1%, accounting for 31.7% of my country's total export value of intermediate products. Exports of electronic components and labor-intensive intermediate products both maintained rapid double-digit growth. During the same period, my country imported 1.48 trillion yuan from other RCEP member countries, an increase of 3.4%.
The majority of import and export companies have benefited. In the first quarter, preferential imports under RCEP amounted to 24.69 billion yuan, involving tax concessions of 670 million yuan, an increase of 35.3% and 38.7% respectively, benefiting 4,320 companies; in terms of exports, 18,000 export companies applied for RCEP origin certificates, involving a value of 63.94 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6%.