China's trade surplus continues to decrease

The General Administration of Customs recently released China's foreign trade import and export situation in the first five months of this year. According to customs statistics, from January to May, China’s total value of imports and exports was US$ 140.79 billion, which was an increase of 27.4% from the same period of last year (the same below). Among them, exports were 712.38 billion U.S. dollars, up 25.5%; imports were 689.41 billion U.S. dollars, up 29.4%. The cumulative trade surplus was US$22.97 billion, a decrease of 35.1%.

Customs statistics show that China’s total value of imports and exports in May was US$301.27 billion, an increase of 23.5%. Among them, exports were US$157.16 billion, up 19.4%; imports were US$144.11 billion, up 28.4%. The monthly trade surplus was 13.05 billion U.S. dollars.

In the first five months, China’s general trade volume was 735.93 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 33.6%. Among them, exports were US$338.74 billion, up 32.3%; imports were US$397.19 billion, up 34.8%, higher than the national import growth rate of 5.4 percentage points over the same period.

In the bilateral trade with major trading partners, the bilateral trade value between China and the EU in the first five months was US$218.01 billion, an increase of 22.9%. During the same period, Sino-U.S. bilateral trade totaled 169.52 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 22.3%. The bilateral trade value between China and ASEAN was US$14.28 billion, an increase of 26%. In the first five months, the bilateral trade volume between China and Japan was US$134.3 billion, an increase of 20.4%.

According to customs statistics, in the first five months, the total value of imports and exports in Guangdong Province was 356.62 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 27.7%. In the same period, the import and export value of Jiangsu Province, Shanghai Municipality and Beijing Municipality were 212.23 billion, 170.24 billion and 155.46 billion U.S. dollars, up by 21.8%, 22.1% and 30.2% respectively. In addition, the import and export value of Zhejiang Province, Shandong Province and Fujian Province were 118.35 billion, 92.79 billion and 51.49 billion US dollars, respectively, an increase of 24.9%, 32.4% and 26.9%. The import and export value of the above 7 provinces and cities accounted for 84.7% of the total import and export value of the country. From the perspective of exports, the first five months, Guangdong Province exported 204.39 billion US dollars, an increase of 29.5%. Jiangsu Province and Shanghai respectively exported 120.64 billion and 80.04 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, an increase of 22.3% and 19.2%, respectively. In addition, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Fujian provinces exported 8.16 billion, 49.49 billion, and 32.77 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, which were up 24.6%, 24%, and 31.1%; Beijing's exports were 21.78 billion U.S. dollars, up 1.9%.

Among export commodities, China exported 407.71 billion U.S. dollars of mechanical and electrical products in the first five months, an increase of 20.9%. Among the imported goods, in the first five months, China imported 280 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 8.1%; coal imported 56.88 million tons, a decrease of 16.6%; soybean imports 19.41 million tons, a decrease of 1%. In addition, imports of machinery and electronic products were 297.31 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 20.6%; of which automobile imports were 388,000, an increase of 21.8%.