On June 9, the General Administration of Customs released news that according to statistics, in the first five months of this year, my country’s total import and export value was 10.3 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.2% compared with the same period last year. Among them, exports were 5.4 trillion yuan, down 2.7%; imports were 4.9 trillion yuan, down 1.6%; the trade surplus was 436.6 billion yuan, narrowed by 13.6%. In May, my country’s total import and export value was 2.18 trillion yuan, which turned from a decrease of 3.1% in the previous four months to an increase of 1.5%. Among them, exports were 1.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4% from a decrease of 4.8% in the first four months; imports were 0.98 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.9%; the trade surplus was 220.4 billion yuan, an expansion of 70.3%. From January to May, clothing exports were 384.67 billion yuan, an increase of 0.2%; textile exports were 269.78 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6%.
In the first five months, my country’s general trade import and export reached 5.66 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.1%, accounting for 55% of the total foreign trade value, an increase of 3.8 percentage points from the same period last year. During the same period, my country’s processing trade import and export volume was 3.25 trillion yuan, down 5.3%, accounting for 31.6% of the total foreign trade value, down 1 percentage point from the same period last year.
Imports and exports to the EU, the United States, ASEAN and Japan maintained growth, while trade to Hong Kong declined. In the first five months, the total value of China-EU bilateral trade was 1.48 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.1%. The total value of bilateral trade between China and the United States was 1.31 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.6%. In the first five months, the total bilateral trade value between China and ASEAN was 1.12 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.2%. The total value of bilateral trade between China and Japan was 777.38 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1%. In the first five months, the total bilateral trade value between the mainland and Hong Kong was 808.74 billion yuan, a decrease of 28.3%.
In the first five months, Guangdong’s total import and export value was 2.4 trillion yuan, a decrease of 19.7%, accounting for 23.3% of the country’s total import and export value. During the same period, the total import and export value of Jiangsu and Shanghai was 1.39 trillion yuan and 1.15 trillion yuan respectively, an increase of 3.6% and 6.1% respectively; the total import and export value of Beijing (including central units in Beijing) was 1.1 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.7%. The total import and export value of Zhejiang was 848.05 billion yuan, an increase of 3.6%; that of Shandong was 700.56 billion yuan, an increase of 7.6%; and that of Fujian was 418.26 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.4%. The total import and export value of the above-mentioned seven provinces and cities accounted for 77.8% of the country’s total import and export value, down 2.3 percentage points from the same period last year.
Among export commodities, exports of traditional labor-intensive products grew against the trend. In the first five months, clothing exports were 384.67 billion yuan, an increase of 0.2%; textile exports were 269.78 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6%; footwear exports were 126.04 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7%.
