[ferro-alloys.com]

  Beijing, April 13, Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of customs and director of the Department of statistics and analysis, said on the 13th that according to customs statistics, China's total import and export value of goods trade in the first quarter was 8.47 trillion yuan, an increase of 29.2% over the same period last year. Among them, the export was 4.61 trillion yuan, up 38.7%; the import was 3.86 trillion yuan, up 19.3%; the trade surplus was 759.29 billion yuan, up 690.6%.

  On the 13th, the State Information Office held a press conference on the import and export situation in the first quarter of 2021. Li Kuiwen said at the meeting that in the first quarter of this year, the effectiveness of China's overall epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development continued to show, and foreign trade import and export achieved a "good start". According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, China's total import and export value of goods trade was 8.47 trillion yuan, an increase of 29.2% over the same period last year. Among them, the export was 4.61 trillion yuan, up 38.7%; the import was 3.86 trillion yuan, up 19.3%; the trade surplus was 759.29 billion yuan, up 690.6%.

  Li Kuiwen pointed out that the specific analysis has the following five characteristics:

  Firstly, the proportion of general trade import and export increased. In the first quarter, China's general trade import and export reached 5.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 32%, accounting for 61.2% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 1.3 percentage points over the same period last year; among them, export reached 2.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 43.4%; import reached 2.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.8%. During the same period, the import and export of processing trade reached 1.91 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.5%, accounting for 22.6%.

  Secondly, import and export with major trading partners maintained growth. In the first quarter, ASEAN, the European Union, the United States and Japan were China's top four trading partners, with imports and exports of 1.24 trillion yuan, 1.19 trillion yuan, 1.08 trillion yuan and 561.42 billion yuan, up 26.1%, 36.4%, 61.3% and 20.8% respectively. In addition, one belt, one road, and RCEP trading partners increased by 21.4% and 22.9% respectively.

  Thirdly, the vitality of private enterprises has been enhanced. In the first quarter, the import and export of China's private enterprises reached 3.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 42.7%, accounting for 46.7% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 4.4 percentage points over the same period last year, and continued to maintain China's leading position in foreign trade. Among them, export was 2.55 trillion yuan, up 50%; import was 1.4 trillion yuan, up 31%. In addition, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises reached 3.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.7%, accounting for 37.7%. The import and export of state-owned enterprises reached 1.28 trillion yuan, an increase of 11%, accounting for 15.2%.

  Fourthly, the export proportion of mechanical and electrical products exceeded 60%. In the first quarter, China exported 2.78 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 43%, accounting for 60.3% of the total export value, up 1.7 percentage points compared with the same period last year; among them, the export of automatic data processing equipment and its parts, mobile phones and automobiles increased by 54.5%, 38.5% and 98.9% respectively. During the same period, the export of epidemic prevention materials kept growing, and the export of textiles including masks increased by 30.6%.

  Fifthly, the import volume of major commodities increased. In the first quarter, China imported 283 million tons of iron ore, 139 million tons of crude oil and 29.388 million tons of natural gas, an increase of 8%, 9.5% and 19.6% respectively. During the same period, the import of soybean was 21.178 million tons, an increase of 19%; corn was 6.727 million tons, an increase of 437.8%; wheat was 2.925 million tons, an increase of 131.2%.

  "On the whole, since the beginning of this year, China's foreign trade operation has maintained a restorative growth trend, and the positive factors continue to increase. Meanwhile, we should novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic is still spreading worldwide. The world economic situation is still complex and severe. Foreign trade development is facing many unstable and uncertain factors. Li Kuiwen said.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]