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SCIO briefing on China's import and export performance in H1 2023

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Xie Yingjun:

Now you are welcome to raise questions. Please identify the news organization you represent before asking your questions.

CCTV:

Just now, you gave an introduction to the foreign trade data for the first half of the year. What's your view on the overall performance of China's foreign trade in H1? What were the highlights and positive changes during this period? And what are your expectations for H2? Thank you.

Lyu Daliang:

Thank you for your questions. In the first half of 2023, global economic recovery remained sluggish, the spillover effects of contractionary policies adopted by major developed economies were becoming more evident, and various factors increased instability and uncertainty in the international market. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China's economic performance picked up on the whole. We faced up to that pressure and steadily improved the scale and quality of foreign trade. The overall performance met the projected target. In specific, there are positive changes in three aspects:

First, China's foreign trade vitality became stronger. In H1, there were 540,000 foreign trade enterprises in China involved in exports and imports, an increase of 6.9% year on year. Among them, the number of private enterprises rose by 8.3%, most of which were micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises full of vitality. The foreign trade entities showed more business dynamism. During the same period, private enterprises, a main contributor to China's foreign trade, witnessed a growth rate that was 6.8 percentage points higher than the foreign trade in total. Their combined value represented 52.7% of the country's total and drove the overall foreign trade growth by 4.4 percentage points.

Second, China's foreign trade structure improved. In terms of trade methods, general trade, which involves longer industrial chains and higher added value, recorded a higher growth rate than foreign trade in total. The value of general trade accounted for 65.5% of the country's total, up by 1.2 percentage points. All these show that our capability of independent development of trade has been steadily strengthened. In terms of regional distribution, the central and western regions and the three northeastern provinces accelerated the pace of opening up, with their imports and exports in H1 increasing by 2.8% and 4.5%, respectively, 0.7 and 2.4 percentage points higher than the country's overall growth. Their combined value accounted for 21% of the country's total, achieving a more balanced regional development.

Third, new drives for foreign trade were generated. Faced with the pressure on foreign trade, China has made great efforts to explore emerging markets, build platforms for high-standard opening up, and cultivate and expand competitive industries so as to constantly generate new drives for foreign trade. In H1, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road jumped nearly 10% year on year. The total value accounted for 34.3% of the country's total. During the same period, China's trade with Latin America and Africa rose 7% and 10.5%, respectively, from a year earlier. All these show that Chinese enterprises are diversifying their markets overseas. The imports and exports of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port grew by 8.6% and 26.4%, respectively, fully leveraging their role as platforms for opening up. The total export value of China's "Three New Flagship products" – electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar batteries – soared 61.6%. Together they contributed 1.8 percentage points to the overall export growth, showing the great dynamics of China's green industry.

As for foreign trade in the second half of this year, we feel both pressure and confidence. At present, inflation in major developed economies remains high, geopolitical conflicts persist, and short-term external demand recovery is insufficient. We are still facing much pressure to maintain stable growth of foreign trade. But at the same time, we should also see that the fundamentals of the Chinese economy, characterized by strong resilience, enormous potential, and long-term sustainability, remain unchanged. As a series of policies and measures continue to take effect, we have the confidence, the foundation, and the conditions to achieve the goal of stabilizing and improving the quality of imports and exports. Thank you.