Photo: CFP
China’s foreign trade has maintained resilience and stable growth since the beginning of this year despite challenges from external environment, official data showed on Monday.
China’s total goods imports and exports in yuan-denominated terms expanded 2.5 percent year-on-year to 17.94 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion) in first five months this year, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
Between January and May, the country’s total exports rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to 10.67 trillion yuan, while imports slid 3.8 percent year-on-year to 7.27 trillion yuan, the data showed.
“China’s economy has sustained steady growth since the beginning of the year, with the goods trade remaining resilient amid external pressures. Entering May, China’s imports and exports continued their upward momentum, particularly accelerating notably after the China-US high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs,” said Lü Daliang, a GAC spokesperson, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
In May alone, China’s total goods imports and exports in yuan-denominated terms grew by 2.7 percent year-on-year to 3.81 trillion yuan.
Last month, China’s goods exports rose 6.3 percent year on year to 2.28 trillion yuan, while imports declined by 2.1 percent year-on-year to 1.53 trillion yuan, according to the GAC.
The GAC data also showed continued structural improvement in China’s foreign trade. In the first five months, China’s export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 9.3 percent year-on-year to 6.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 60 percent of the country’s total goods exports.
In terms of trading partners, ASEAN remained China’s largest trading partner in the January-May period. During this period, trade between China and the ASEAN bloc totaled 3.02 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent.
During the same period, China’s foreign trade with the EU went up 2.9 percent year-on-year to 2.3 trillion yuan, while that with Belt and Road partner countries rose 4.2 percent to 9.24 trillion yuan.
China’s foreign trade with the US decreased by 8.1 percent year-on-year to 1.72 trillion yuan during this period, according to the data.
