The foreign trade surplus in the first quarter expanded nearly 7 times

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter of this year, my country’s trade surplus reached 759.29 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 7 times.

Tang Jianwei analyzed the "Daily Economic News" reporter and said that the current recovery of overseas demand has further highlighted the role of pulling my country's exports, and the trend of exports exceeding imports has further strengthened.

The research report of Donghai Futures showed that my country’s export growth rate in March was stronger than expected, mainly due to the replenishment of overseas stocks. On the whole, the epidemic in the United States was under certain control in the first quarter, superimposed on the implementation of a new round of stimulus policies in the United States, supporting the improvement of overseas demand, and continued external demand replenishment. my country's high export boom is expected to continue into the first half of 2021.

Talking about the characteristics of my country's foreign trade in the first quarter of this year, Li Kuiwen said that first of all, the vitality of private enterprises has been further improved.

In the first quarter, the import and export growth rate of my country's private enterprises was 13.5% higher than the overall growth rate of my country's foreign trade in the same period, becoming the most important driving force for the growth of my country's foreign trade import and export. The growth rate of commodities such as household appliances, computers, medical materials and medicines exported by private enterprises exceeded 70%. The growth rate of imported metal ore and ore, unwrought copper and copper materials, cosmetics and other commodities all exceeded 50%.

Second, the foreign trade of the central and western regions is active. According to Li Kuiwen, in the first quarter, my country’s central and western regions’ foreign trade imports and exports amounted to 1.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 45.1%. The growth rate was 15.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of my country’s foreign trade. The proportion of imports and exports in the country increased by 2 percentage points compared with the same period last year, reaching 17.8. %. The further optimization of the domestic regional layout also fully demonstrates that my country's central and western regions continue to give play to their own advantages, the ability to undertake industrial transfers has increased, and the foreign trade potential has been further explored.

"The trade with countries along the'Belt and Road' routes has become closer. my country has continued to expand its opening to the outside world and expand its economic and trade cooperation circle of friends. In particular, the continuous deepening of economic and trade cooperation with countries along the'Belt and Road' routes has further expanded my country's foreign trade development space. , my country’s imports and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” reached 2.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.4%. Among them, imports and exports to Vietnam, Indonesia, and Poland have all achieved rapid growth.” Li Kuiwen said.

ASEAN remains the largest trading partner

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter of this year, ASEAN, the European Union, the United States and Japan were my country’s top four trading partners, with total imports and exports of 1.24 trillion yuan, 1.19 trillion yuan, 1.08 trillion yuan and 561.42 billion yuan, respectively. Increased by 26.1%, 36.4%, 61.3% and 20.8%. In addition, my country's imports and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” and RCEP trading partners increased by 21.4% and 22.9% respectively. This shows that while maintaining growth in imports and exports with major trading partners, my country's foreign trade has become more diversified.

In the first quarter, my country’s imports and exports to ASEAN accounted for 14.7% of my country’s total foreign trade imports and exports, of which my country’s exports to ASEAN were 683.48 billion yuan, an increase of 27.7%, and imports from ASEAN were 560.6 billion yuan, an increase of 24.3%. ASEAN continues to maintain its status as my country's largest trading partner.

Li Kuiwen said that in 2010, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was fully completed, and tariffs on 7,000 products were abolished, and more than 90% of the products achieved zero tariffs. In October 2019, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Upgrade Protocol took effect for all members of the agreement, which further lowered the threshold in terms of rules of origin, trade clearance regulations, service trade, and investment, and effectively promoted the development of bilateral trade.

"In the first quarter of this year, in addition to the slight slowdown in the growth of China’s trade with Singapore, my country’s exports to other 9 ASEAN countries all achieved double-digit growth, among which imports and exports to Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia increased by 37.8% and 24% respectively. , 28.7% and 32.2%, combined to boost the growth of my country and ASEAN imports and exports by 22.6 percentage points." Li Kuiwen said.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the signing of RCEP and the rising demand for infrastructure investment from ASEAN countries will further expand the space for China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.

Huo Jianguo, vice chairman of the China World Trade Organization Research Association, believes that the investment environment for bilateral trade between China and ASEAN is relatively good, and the RCEP agreement is about to be implemented, so trade in the entire region is relatively active.

In addition, it is not only that China's economic environment is improving, but the overall growth of ASEAN is also relatively active in developing countries, which has led to a continuous expansion of bilateral trade. In addition, after the Brexit, the total trade volume between my country and the EU has shrunk by one piece, which will also help ASEAN maintain its status as my country's largest trading partner.