China's imports and exports fell 6% in the first quarter from a year earlier, with a double drop in growth in March, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday.'China's foreign trade has encountered some difficulties recently, which have affected steady growth,' Huang Songping, spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, said at a News conference of The State Council Information Office.
Original title: China's foreign trade suffered from "cold" momentum to continue to see steady growth measures
Xinhua, Beijing, April 13 (Wang Youling, You Zhixin, Wang Yuan)China's imports and exports fell 6% in the first quarter from a year earlier, with a double drop in growth in March, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday.
Experts said that the foreign trade data in the first quarter was not optimistic, but basically in line with expectations.Considering that international demand is still sluggish, China's comparative competitive advantage in foreign trade is "shifting gears", China's foreign trade development is still facing a severe and complex situation for a period of time in the future, we need to pay close attention to the implementation of policies to prevent foreign trade from slowing down into a sustained stall.
China's imports and exports totaled 5.54 trillion yuan in the first quarter of this year, according to customs data.Among them, export was 3.15 trillion yuan, up 4.9% year on year, and import was 2.39 trillion yuan, down 17.3%.After adjusting for the Spring Festival holiday, the total value of imports and exports in March fell by 15.9%, exports by 4.4% and imports by 25.1%.
'China's foreign trade has encountered some difficulties recently, which have affected steady growth,' Huang Songping, spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, said at a News conference of The State Council Information Office.
Huang songping said that in terms of exports, sluggish demand in the international market and a decrease in export orders are the main reasons for the recent export slowdown.In addition, labor, financing, exchange rate, environmental protection and other comprehensive costs remain high, and the weakening of traditional competitive advantages also restrict export growth.
On the import side, commodity import prices remain low, pulling down import growth sharply and being the main factor behind the recent decline in China's import values.China's import prices for commodities such as crude oil and iron ore fell 45% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to customs data.In addition, foreign trade enterprises tend to be cautious in their judgment of the international and domestic economic situation. In particular, the production expansion pace of manufacturing enterprises slows down and the import willingness is weak, which affects the import growth rate.
A number of foreign trade enterprises have also felt the "chill" of the import and export situation since the spring.Li Xiangde, general manager of Jiaxing Nai Aufu Lin Tungsten kitchenware Manufacturing Co., LTD., told reporters that in the first quarter, orders decreased by half compared with the same period last year, mainly because of rising labor costs and the overall economic situation is not optimistic.Chen Gang, manager of the export department of Ningbo Ningdian Import and Export Co., LTD., also lamenting that orders have been diverted by peers in Southeast Asia.
"China's foreign trade is in a period of conversion of comparative advantages, traditional comparative advantages are at a critical point, and the global competitiveness supported by labor-intensive comparative advantages is no longer sustainable."Long Guoqiang, deputy director of the Development Research Center of The State Council, said, "China's competitive advantage in foreign trade at the present stage lies in those industries that have technological advantages over emerging economies and still have cost advantages over developed economies."
According to customs data, China's exports of some high-end manufactured products grew rapidly in the first quarter, with exports of transportation vehicles, mobile phones and metal processing machines growing by more than 20%.In the same period, imports of mechanical and electrical products reached 6.4 percent, performing better than the overall level of imports and exports."This reflects that China's foreign trade is shifting from 'big in and big out' to 'better in and better out.'""Said Li Jian, director of the Institute of Foreign Trade at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.
China's price terms of trade index stood at 109.8 in the first quarter, indicating that a certain amount of goods exported by China can be exchanged for 9.8% more imported goods.Huang songping said that this means that China's trade price conditions have significantly improved and foreign trade efficiency has improved.
In addition, according to preliminary estimates, the value of imports and exports between China and countries and regions along the Belt and Road in the first quarter accounted for more than one quarter of China's total foreign trade in the same period. The growth rate of exports was over 10%, 5.5 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of exports in the same period.
In March, China's leading export index was 38.2, down 1.4 from February, indicating that there is still uncertainty about the improvement of China's exports in the second quarter."For a period of time to come, the overall situation of China's foreign trade is still grim and complex. To achieve this year's expected foreign trade growth target, we still need to make arduous efforts.""Huang said.
Long guoqiang said that because the world economy has not significantly improved, and China is in the phase of comparative advantage conversion, therefore, should not be in the short-term foreign trade imports and exports to a big turnaround have too high expectations.In the future, our foreign trade policy will continue to focus on how to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure.
Huang songping said that despite the divergence of the world economy, all countries are trying to improve their own economic development environment.China is also deepening reform in an all-round way and promoting steady growth, transformation and upgrading of foreign trade.Cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade, financial leasing and other new types of trade will continue to flourish this year.The implementation of pilot free trade zones and the Belt and Road Initiative will be accelerated, all of which are favorable factors for the development of China's foreign trade this year.
