Official data released on Thursday showed that the Belt Road market provided a strong boost to China’s trade performance in the first four months of 2019.
From January to April, customs data showed that China’s total import and export volume reached 9.51 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. The export value was 5.06 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%, and the import value was 4.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%.
“The trade performance of the first four months showed a diversified international market, and the economies involved in BRI showed (a) a strong push for imports and exports (departments),” said the Ministry of Commerce spokesman.
In the first four months, China’s exports to the EU, ASEAN, South Korea and Russia increased by 14.2%, 13.4%, 7.7% and 9.1% respectively.
Compared with the BRI economies, the trade growth rate exceeded the average by 4.8 percentage points, and the trade volume accounted for 28.7% of the country’s total foreign trade.
“In the first four months, the BRI economy market showed great space and potential (foreign trade), and the trade growth rate with these markets has exceeded the average level,” said Zhang Jianping, director of the Regional Economic Cooperation Center. Belongs to the Ministry of Commerce. “By strengthening cooperation with BRI economies, China can further diversify its trade.”
Zhang said that the key to the high-quality development of foreign trade lies in strong brands and technologies. “For exports, if we don’t have strong brands, technology and high value-added products, it will be difficult to achieve high quality development,” Zhang said. “The country has been encouraging companies to research, develop and innovate with the aim of increasing their competitive advantage.”
He said that for imported products, in view of the trend of consumption growth, the country also needs quality products to meet domestic demand.
According to the Ministry’s data, during the recent Canton Fair, 35.8% of the total business volume came from the BRI economies.
Xu Bing, deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center, said that although the country’s foreign trade is facing various uncertain factors at home and abroad, the results of the China Import and Export Fair show that the high-quality development strategy has achieved positive results overall.
After the Canton Fair, participants from 100 countries and regions are expected to participate in the 2019 China International Investment and Trade Fair in Xiamen, Fujian Province in September. This is an important world-class investment promotion and business matching event, with a focus on With the organizers, this year’s BRI.
It will also host e-commerce trade fairs for BRI-related regions, as well as BRI’s partnerships in equipment manufacturing, information and infrastructure industries, and international parks and smart city building.
