China's trade with other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) reached a record high of CNY1.73 trillion from January to August, jumping by 26 % year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs of China (GAC), demonstrating the resilience and vitality of the economic and trade activities among the regional economies. The 800th “Qilu” Eurasian Express train, also dubbed the SCO Express, loaded with goods worth about CNY21 million left the multimodal transportation center of the SCO Demonstration Zone in Qingdao, Shandong province, on September 9 heading to Uzbekistan. The first train service on the route was launched in April 2020. So far, 27 international and domestic train services have been launched at the SCO demonstration zone, reaching 51 cities in 22 countries, including SCO member countries and countries along the Belt and Road.
The growth in trade with SCO members was 15.9 percentage points higher than China's overall growth rate of foreign trade in the same period, accounting for 6.3% of China's total foreign trade value. Exports reached CNY1.07 trillion, an increase of 25.4% year-on-year, while imports were CNY655.01 billion, an increase of 27% year-on-year. Energy, agricultural and machinery goods drove the trend. With the increasing demand for energy from economic recovery and the rising importance for the stability and security of energy and agricultural supplies, the increase in imports of energy and agricultural products has become a bright spot in trade cooperation among member states. In the first eight months, China imported a total of 117 million tons of crude oil, coal and natural gas from other SCO member countries, with a value of CNY372.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 70.4%, accounting for 56.9% of the total value of China's imports from other SCO member countries. Imported agricultural products amounted to CNY49.24 billion during the same period, a yearly increase of 11%.
From January to August, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products to other SCO member countries amounted to CNY563.96 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%, accounting for 52.6% of the total value of China's exports to other member countries. The export of electronic components, automatic data processing equipment and its parts, and electrical equipment have all reached the CNY10 billion mark, and achieved double-digit growth.
Infrastructure projects have created powerful conditions for the rapid development of regional economic and trade cooperation. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Highway and the China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan Highway opened to traffic. The Blagoveshchensk-Heihe highway bridge, the first highway bridge connecting China and Russia across the Heilongjiang River, also officially opened to traffic in June. In addition, the first China-Russia railway bridge linking the city of Tongjiang in Heilongjiang province with Nizhneleninskoye in Russia will be launched soon. As to China-Europe trains, from January to August 2022, 10,622 China-Europe freight trains were dispatched, a year-on-year increase of 6%, compared to 523 SCO Express trains, a year-on-year increase of 46.1%, the Global Times reports.
