China's foreign trade sustains growth momentum

Aerial photo taken on July 13, 2021 shows a container terminal in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province.(Photo by Long Wei/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade sustained growth momentum in the first eight months of the year as external demand continued to pick up and the economy maintained stable development.

In the first eight months of the year, the country's total imports and exports expanded 23.7 percent year on year to 24.78 trillion yuan (about 3.84 trillion U.S. dollars), data from the General Administration of Customs showed Tuesday.

The figure marked a 22.8-percent increase compared with the level registered during the same period in 2019, according to Customs data.

Both exports and imports logged double-digit growth in the January-August period, surging 23.2 percent and 24.4 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

Trade surplus increased 17.8 percent year on year during the same period to 2.34 trillion yuan.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products registered double-digit growth in the January-August period. Exports of mobile phones, clothing and accessories, and plastic products increased 9.2 percent, 17.9 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively.

The breakdown shows a broad-based uptick across all types of goods. In particular, the rebound in Chinese-made consumer goods such as electronics, furniture and recreational products possibly reflected retailers in advanced economies replenishing their inventories ahead of the Christmas shopping season, said Sheana Yue, an economist at London-based economic analysis firm Capital Economics, in a note.

In the first eight months of the year, China's trade with its top three trading partners -- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States -- maintained sound growth.

During the period, the growth rates of China's trade value with the three trading partners stood at 22.8 percent, 22.1 percent and 25.8 percent, respectively.

China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road rose 24.6 percent to 7.29 trillion yuan during the same period, the data showed.

Private enterprises saw imports and exports increase 29.9 percent to stand at 11.92 trillion yuan in the first eight months, accounting for 48.1 percent of the country's total, up 2.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

The imports and exports of state-owned enterprises rose 25.2 percent to reach 3.81 trillion yuan, accounting for 15.4 percent of China's total foreign trade value during the period.

In August alone, the country's imports and exports rose 18.9 percent year on year to 3.43 trillion yuan, representing a yearly increase in China's foreign trade for 15 consecutive months, the data showed.

While China's foreign trade is expected to continue the growth, analysts have warned of uncertainties that could have a possible impact on it.

High prices of raw materials, fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate and delays in sea shipping will further squeeze the profit margins of foreign trade enterprises and affect their willingness to accept new orders, said Tu Xinquan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics.