China News Service Client Beijing, April 14th (Reporter Li Jinlei) Import and export data for the first quarter were released.

There are several characteristics that deserve attention: imports and exports fell by 6.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, the decline was not as bad as expected; imports and exports improved in the month of March; imports of crude oil and pharmaceutical products increased a lot. There is another big change: the ASEAN super-EU has become China's largest trading partner.

The picture shows the Shenzhen airport customs staff checking at the airport's international cargo terminal. Chen Wenshe

Trade surplus decreased by more than 80% in the first quarter

According to customs statistics, the total value of China ’s imports and exports of goods in the first quarter was 6.57 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6.4% from the same period last year. Among them, exports were 3.33 trillion yuan, down 11.4%; imports were 3.24 trillion yuan, down 0.7%; trade surplus was 98.33 billion yuan, down 80.6%.

Imports and exports improved in March

It is worth noting that in the first quarter, although imports and exports fell by 6.4%, the decline was significantly narrowed by 3.1 percentage points from the previous two months.

In March, imports and exports realized "tail tail". The import and export of foreign trade in March was 2.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%, and the decline was narrowed by 8.7 percentage points from January to February.

ASEAN super EU becomes China's largest trading partner

Statistics show that in the first quarter, China ’s imports and exports to ASEAN reached 991.34 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1%, accounting for 15.1% of China ’s total foreign trade. ASEAN became China ’s largest trading partner. Imports and exports to the European Union amounted to 875.93 billion yuan, down 10.4%; imports and exports to the United States 668.01 billion yuan, down 18.3%; imports and exports to Japan 465.68 billion yuan, down 8.1%.

Li Kuiwen, a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs and the director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, analyzed that in the first quarter of this year, the “Brexit” factors of the UK were superimposed, and ASEAN replaced EU with 115.41 billion yuan to become China ’s largest trading partner for four reasons:

First, the import and export of integrated circuits between China and ASEAN increased sharply in the first quarter of this year, driving the overall increase in foreign trade between China and ASEAN by 3.3 percentage points. The second is the acceleration of energy cooperation and trade between China and ASEAN, which drove the overall growth of foreign trade between China and ASEAN by 1.7 percentage points. The third is to play a "leading" role in imports and exports to Vietnam and Malaysia, driving the overall growth of China's foreign trade with ASEAN by 5.6 percentage points. Fourth, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Upgrade "Protocol" came into full effect, which also promoted the growth of agricultural exports to ASEAN.

The picture shows the Haikou Xiuying Port Container Terminal. Photo by Luo Yunfei

Imports of crude oil and pharmaceutical products increased rapidly

Among them, due to the epidemic situation, China imported 61.91 billion yuan of medical materials and drugs, an increase of 14.8%.

Imported crude oil was 130 million tons, an increase of 5%; imported coal was 95.778 million tons, an increase of 28.4%; imported natural gas was 24.656 million tons, an increase of 1.8%.

In addition, imported soybeans were 17.792 million tons, an increase of 6.2%; imported pork was 951,000 tons, an increase of 1.7 times; imported beef was 513,000 tons, an increase of 64.9%.

What is the trend of foreign trade throughout the year?

The current global epidemic of new pneumococcal pneumonia is still spreading, which has caused a serious impact on the development of the world economy. Recently, the International Monetary Fund recently predicted that the global economy will be in recession this year, and the World Trade Organization also predicted that global trade in goods will decline significantly this year.

Regarding the trend of foreign trade throughout the year, Li Kuiwen analyzed that shrinking demand in the international market will inevitably have an impact on China's foreign trade exports. Problems such as the reduction of new foreign trade orders have gradually emerged. The difficulties facing China's foreign trade development cannot be underestimated.

Li Kuiwen said that recently, various localities and departments have taken a series of measures to stabilize foreign trade development to help enterprises overcome difficulties, gradually open up international transportation channels, and stabilize the supply chain industry chain. China has the institutional advantage of concentrating its efforts on major affairs, has a strong domestic market, and is confident of stabilizing the fundamentals of foreign trade to minimize the impact of the epidemic on China ’s imports and exports. (Finish)