China News Service, April 13. On the 13th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the import and export situation in the first quarter of 2022. Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, introduced that in the first two months of this year, ASEAN has The gap of 3 billion yuan is behind the EU, and it is temporarily China's second largest trading partner.

From the data of the first quarter, my country's imports and exports to ASEAN reached 1.35 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, accounting for 14.4% of my country's total foreign trade value; during the same period, my country's imports and exports to the EU reached 1.31 trillion yuan.

ASEAN is again my number one trading partner.

　　Preliminary analysis shows that the main supporting factors for the growth of my country's imports and exports with ASEAN are as follows:

　　First, the official entry into force of RCEP will facilitate the economic and trade development between China and ASEAN.

With the official entry into force of RCEP, the new institutional dividend is further intensifying economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN.

According to customs data, in the first quarter, my country's import and export volume with ASEAN accounted for 47.2% of the foreign trade volume with RCEP trading partners, accounting for nearly half.

　　Second, connectivity continues to provide growth impetus for trade exchanges.

The new western land-sea corridor has realized the close connection between western my country and ASEAN countries, and effectively guaranteed the smooth economic and trade exchanges between the two sides.

Relevant data show that in the first quarter of this year, the rail-sea combined freight trains of the new western land-sea channel sent 170,000 TEUs of containerized cargo, a year-on-year increase of 56.5%.

The China-Laos Railway has built a convenient logistics channel between China and ASEAN. At present, many provinces and cities across the country have successively opened cross-border freight trains on the China-Laos Railway.

In the first quarter, the import and export of railway transportation between China and ASEAN increased by 3.5 times.

　　The third is the steady recovery of the regional industrial chain, with trade in intermediate products exceeding 60%.

According to S&P Global data, the manufacturing purchasing manager index of ASEAN countries in March this year was 51.7, maintaining an expansion trend, driving the growth of intermediate product trade between my country and ASEAN.

In the first quarter, the import and export of intermediate products between my country and ASEAN reached 838.4 billion yuan, accounting for 62% of the foreign trade volume between my country and ASEAN.

　　Fourth, actively expand the import of agricultural products from ASEAN.

In the first quarter, my country imported 46.02 billion yuan of agricultural products from ASEAN, an increase of 14.1%, accounting for 13.7% of my country's total import value of agricultural products.

Among them, the imports of aquatic products, dried and fresh fruits and nuts from ASEAN increased by 26.2% and 17.3% respectively.

　　China and ASEAN are each other's important trading partners. The two sides have strong economic complementarity, wide cooperation fields and great development potential. Bilateral trade will continue to maintain a good momentum.

(Finish)