General Administration of Customs: In 2008, China's Foreign Trade Value Reached

As calculated by the Customs, in 2008, China's total value of import and export reached USD 2.56163 trillion, increasing by 17.8% as compared with that last year and decreasing by 5.7% as compared with the total value thereof at last year.

 

Sourced from General Administration of Customs' website on February 5, China's total value of import and export in 2008 grew by less than 20% for the first time since entering the WTO due to influence of subprime mortgage crisis. As calculated by the Customs, in 2008, China's total value of import and export reached USD 2.56163 trillion, increasing by 17.8% (similarly hereinafter) as compared with that last year and decreasing by 5.7% as compared with the total value thereof last year, among which the export value accounted for USD 1.42855 trillion, up 17.2% and drop by 8.5 as compared with the total value thereof last year. The import value accounted for USD 1.13308 trillion, up 18.5% and drop by 2.3% as compared with the total value thereof last year. The trade surplus reached USD 295.47 billion, increasing by 12.5%, as compared with that at last year, so as to achieve the net growth of USD 32.83 billion.

 

In 2008, China's import and export mainly feature:

 

I.      At the fourth quarter, the foreign trade value was obviously shrunk. The growth of import and export was decreased at the final two months.

 

With the overspread of international financial crisis, China's import and export value was obviously shrunk at the 4^th quarter of 2008. The total value of import and export reached USD 594.28 billion, decreasing by 18.8% as compared with that at the 3^rd quarter of 2008, among which the total value of import and export in November had been lowered for the first time since October, 2001 (excluding the spring festival). In December, the total value of import and export was further lowered, accounting for USD 183.33 billion, decreasing by 11.1% and drop by 2.1% as compared with that in November, among which the monthly export value accounted for USD 111.16 billion, drop by 2.8%, so as to deepen the decreasing rate by 0.6%; the monthly import value accounted for USD 72.18 billion, drop by 21.3%, so as to deepen the decreasing rate by 3.4%. The monthly trade surplus was slightly lowered as compared with the peak value in November, accounting for USD 38.98 billion, rapidly increasing by 72.1% year on year, so as to achieve the net growth of USD 16.33 billion.

 

II.     The growth rate of ordinary import was increased and the surplus thereof was decreased; the processing trade value was lowered and the growth rate of import was lower than that of export.

 

In 2008, China's import and export of general trade reached USD 1.23526 trillion, up 27.6 %, accounting for 48.2% of China's total value of import and export at the same period. The proportion thereof was increased by 3.7% as compared with that at last year, among which the export thereof reached USD 662.58 billion, up by 22.9% and drop by 6.5% year on year; the import thereof reached USD 572.68 billion, up by 33.6% and increase by 4.9% year on year. The trade surplus under the general trade reached USD 89.9 billion, so that net decrease of USD 20.57 billion was available as compared with that at the last year.

 

In 2008, China's import and export of processing trade reached USD 1.05359 trillion, increasing by 6.8%, accounting for 41.1% of the total value of China's import and export. The proportion thereof was decreased by 4.2% as compared with that at the last year, among which the export thereof reached USD 675.18 billion, up by 9.3%, decreasing by 11.3 % year on year, accounting for 47.3% of the total value of China's gross export value; the import thereof reached USD 378.4 billion, up by 2.7% and drop by 6.6% as compared with that of processing trade export as the same period, accounting for 33.4 % of China's gross import value. The trade surplus under the processing trade reached USD 296.78 billion, with the net increase of USD 47.69 billion. It should be concerned that in December, China's import and export of processing trade were continuously and substantially declined. The drop rate of import was obviously higher than that of export. The export of processing trade in December reached USD 48.6 billion, drop by 15.7%; the import thereof reached USD 23.69 billion, drop by 31.3%.

 

III.    The foreign invested enterprises' growth rate of import and export slowed down, while the state-owned enterprises' growth rate of import and export was increased.

 

In 2008,the foreign invested enterprises' import and export value reached USD 1.41058 trillion, increasing by 12.4% and decreasing by 6% as compared with the import and export value thereof at last year, accounting for 55.1% of China's total value of import and export of the year, among which the export value hereof reached USD 790.62 billion, up by 13.6%, accounting for 55.3% of China's gross export value of the year; the import value reached USD 619.96 billion, up by 10.8%, accounting for 54.7% of China's gross import value of the year.

 

At the same period, the state-owned enterprises' import and export value reached USD 611.04 billion, increasing by 23.5%, up 3.7% as compared with that at last year, accounting for 23.9% of China's total value of import and export of the year, among which the export value reached USD 257.23 billion, increasing by 14.4%, accounting for 18% of China's gross export value of the year; the import value reached USD 353.81 billion, increasing by 31.1%, accounting for 31.2% of China's gross import value of the year.

 

In addition, the collectively-owned, private and other enterprises ' import and export grew steadily. In 2008, the import and export value thereof reached USD 540.02 billion, increasing by 27.3% and decreasing by 10.7% as compared with that at last year, accounting for 21.1% of China's total value of import and export of the year, among which the export value hereof reached USD 380.7 billion, up by 27.9%; the import value reached USD 159.32 billion, up by 25.7%.

 

IV.    China is still deemed by the EU as the largest trade partner, while the growth of bilateral trade between India and China is substantially declined.

 

In 2008, China was continuously deemed as the largest trade partner and export market of the EU. The total value of bilateral trade between Europe and China reached USD 425.58 billion, increasing by 19.5%, which was 9% higher than that of the bilateral trade between US and China and 6.5% higher than that of the bilateral trade between Japan and China, among which China's export to Europe reached USD 292.88 billion, up by 19.5%, accounting for 20.5% of China's gross export value of the year; China's import to Europe reached USD132.7 billion, up by 19.6%; China's trade surplus to the EU reached USD 160.18 billion, up 19.4 % as compared with that at the last year. At the same period, China was still the second largest trade partner of the United States. The total value of bilateral trade between the US and China reached USD 333.74 billion, up by 10.5 % and declining by 4.5 %  as compared with that at the last year, among which China's export to the US reached USD 252.3 billion, up by 8.4%, accounting for 17.7% of China's gross export value of the year; China's import from the US accounted for USD 81.44 billion, up by 17.4%, so as to realize the trade surplus of USD 170.86 billion, up by 4.6% as compared with that at the last year. Japan was still the third largest trade partner of China. In 2008, the total value of bilateral trade between Japan and China reached USD 266.78 billion, up by 13 %, among which China's export to Japan reached USD 116.13 billion, increasing by 13.8 %; China's import from Japan reached USD 150.65 billion, increasing by 12.5 %, so that the trade deficit of USD 34.52 billion occurred, increasing by 8.3% as compared with that at the last year.

 

In addition, India was the 10th largest trade partner of China. In 2008, the total value of bilateral trade between India and China reached USD 51.78 billion, up by 34%, declining substantially by 21.5% as compared with that at the last year.

 

V.     Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai continuously ranked the first three positions in terms of the total value of import and export.

 

In 2008, Guangdong's total value of import and export reached USD 683.26 billion, up by 7.7%, declining by 12.6% as compared with the growth rate thereof at the last year, accounting for 26.7% of China's total value of import and export, so as to achieve the first position in terms of the size of import and export. At the same period, Jiangsu and Shanghai reached the total value of import and export of respectively USD 392.27 billion and USD 322.1 billion, up by 12.2% and 13.9%. Also, Beijing's total value of import and export reached USD 271.71 billion, up by 40.7%, up by 18.6% as compared with that at the last year. The above four provinces and cities' total value of import and export accounted for 65.2% of that of China in 2008.

 

VI.  Growth rate for export of electromechanical products slowed down, while the export growth of traditional bulk commodity was steadily increased.

 

In 2008, export of China's electromechanical products reached USD 822.93 billion, up by 17.3% and declining by 10.3% as compared with that at the last year, accounting for 57.6% of China's gross export value of the year, so as to be the same as that at the last year, among which the export of electrical equipment and electronic products reached USD 342.02 billion, up by 13.9%; the export of machinery and equipment reached USD 268.63 billion, up by 17.5%. The export of high-tech products (combined with the electromechanical products) reached USD 415.61 billion, up by 13.1%. Due to the influence of continuously increase of the rate of export rebate for the labor intensive products since August, 2008, export of part of traditional bulk commodity was grew steadily, among which the export value of clothing and accessories thereof reached USD 119.79 billion, up by 4.1% and declining by 16.8% as compared with that at the last year; the export of textile, fabric and goods thereof reached USD 65.37 billion, increasing by 16.6%, up by 1.6 %; the export of footwear reached USD29.66 billion, increasing by 17.2 % and up by 1.2%; the export of furniture reached USD 26.91 billion, increasing by 21.5 % and declining by 7.8% after a rise; the export of plastics reached USD 15.83 billion, increasing by 9.4% and slightly up by 0.6%. Moreover, the export of crude oil reached 4.16 million tons, declining by 28.4%; the product oil reached 17.03 million tons, up by 9.8 %; the export of coal reached 45.43 million tons, declining by 14.6%; the steel products reached 59.23 million tons, declining by 5.5 %; the export of billet reached 1.29 million tons, declining by 80%.

 

VII. The import of primary products was increased. The average price for import of resources-based products was obviously raised.

 

In 2008, China's import value of primary products reached USD 362.78 billion, increasing by 49.2%, accounting for 32% of China's gross import value of the year and up by 6.6% as compared with that at the last year, among which the import value of iron sand reached 440 million tons, up by 15.9% and the average price for import thereof accounted for USD 136.5/ton, up by 54.5%; the import value of crude oil reached 180 million tons, up by 9.6% and the average price for import thereof accounted for USD 723/ton, up by 47.8%; the import value of product oil reached 38.85 million tons, up by 15 %, the average price therefor reached for USD 773.3/ton, up by 58.9%; the import value of coal reached 40.4 million tons, declining by 20.8%, the average price thereof accounted for USD 86.9/tons, up by 83%; the import value of soybean reached 37.44 million tons, up by 21.5%, the average price therefor reached USD 582.6/ton, up by 56.5%. At the same period, the import value of industrial products reached USD 770.31 billion, increasing by 8.1%, accounting for 68% of China's gross import value of the year, among which the import value of electromechanical products accounted for USD 538.66 billion, up by 7.9%; the import value of finished chemical products and relevant products reached USD 119.19 billion, up by 10.8%; the import of motor vehicles reached 408,000 units, increasing by 30.6%; the import of steel products reached 15.43 million tons, declining by 8.6%.