The General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced that despite multiple negative factors, China’s goods trade surged 7.7% year-on-year to a record CNY42.07 trillion last year, making the country the world’s largest trader in goods for the sixth consecutive year. In U.S. dollar terms, the growth rate was around 7%. The corresponding figure for December was CNY3.77 trillion, up 0.6% year-on-year, which also exceeded analysts’ expectations. The country's exports achieved a double digit growth of 10.5% last year to CNY24 trillion, while imports rose by 4.3%. The trade surplus swelled to CNY5.9 trillion from 2021's CNY5.3 trillion. China's exports of solar cells, lithium batteries and automobiles increased by 67.8%, 86.7% and 82.2% respectively in 2022. Exports of labor-intensive products were also robust, with exports of bags, shoes and toys increasing by 32.6%, 24.4% and 9.1% respectively. Last year, China imported CNY3.19 trillion in energy products such as crude oil, natural gas and coal, accounting for 17.6% of the total import value. The import volume of agricultural products was CNY1.57 trillion, up 10.8% year-on-year, Customs data showed.
GAC Spokesman Lyu Daliang said at a news conference that China’s foreign trade performance is underpinned by strong product competitiveness, an expanding domestic market and policies that will further invigorate foreign trade-related market entities. Zhou Maohua, Analyst at China Everbright Bank, said that despite some downward pressure, China’s strong resilience in trade will lead to its expansion both in terms of scale and quality. “The global trade market is still growing. More importantly, China’s trade with ASEAN and the Belt and Road economies is expanding stably, and its foreign trade enterprises have admirable flexibility and innovation capacity,” he said.
GAC data showed that ASEAN remained China’s largest trading partner in 2022, followed by the European Union and the United States. Trade between China and ASEAN grew 15% year-on-year in 2022, while trade with the EU went up 5.6% over the same period, and it grew by 3.7% year-on-year with the U.S. During a meeting with U.S.-China Business Council President Craig Allen via video link, Wang Wentao, China’s Commerce Minister, said China and the U.S. share a wide range of common interests and room for cooperation. He urged the U.S. to take a proper view of the opportunities that China’s development has brought to the U.S. and the world, and get bilateral economic and trade relations back on track at an early date. Allen said he hopes that the two sides will enhance mutual trust, and strengthen communication and cooperation.
China’s trade with ASEAN members, RCEP countries and Belt and Road economies will continue to be a bright spot in 2023, according to experts. “The entry into force of the RCEP agreement in Indonesia will boost regional trade. As time goes by, Chinese enterprises will get more familiar with the agreement to make better use of its trade liberalization and facilitation provisions,” said Li Yong, Chief Researcher at D&C Thinktank, as reported by the China Daily and the Global Times.
