（The Chinese version shall prevail.）

Review of China’s Foreign Trade in the First Half of 2023

July 13, 2023

In the first half of 2023, in the face of the complex international landscape, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, China acts on the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and promotes the steady progress of high-quality development with an overall upturn in economic performance and stable and improved foreign trade in line with expectations. According to Customs statistics, China’s foreign trade volume in goods in the first half of 2023 reached RMB20.1 trillion, up by 2.1% year-on-year. Exports grew by 3.7% year-on-year to RMB11.46 trillion and imports decreased by 0.1% year-on-year to RMB8.64 trillion.

The details are as follows:

1. Foreign trade volume has maintained steady growth. In the first half of 2023, China’s foreign trade has exceeded RMB20 trillion for the first time over the same period in the history. China’s foreign trade volume reached RMB9.76 trillion and RMB10.34 trillion in Q1 and Q2, both registering positive growth year-on-year. Imports and exports in Q2 was 6% higher than those in Q1. Month-on-month foreign trade growth was 1.2% in both May and June.

2. Imports and exports of private enterprises are growing. In the first half of 2023, imports and exports of China’s private enterprises increased by 8.9% to RMB10.59 trillion, accounting for 52.7% of the country’s total, 3.3 percentage points higher year-on-year. Imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises and state-owned enterprises marked RMB6.16 trillion and RMB3.29 trillion, accounting for 30.7% and 16.4% of the total foreign trade, respectively.

3. Foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road grew faster than the overall foreign trade. In the first half of 2023, trade with ASEAN, China’s largest trading partner, scored RMB3.08 trillion, up by 5.4% year-on-year, accounting for 15.3% of the total foreign trade. China’s trade with the EU grew by 1.9% to RMB2.75 trillion, accounting for 13.7% of the total foreign trade. China’s trade with the US dropped by 8.4% to RMB2.25 trillion, accounting for 11.2% of the total foreign trade. Trade with countries along the Belt and Road grew by 9.8%, 7.7 percentage points higher than the overall trade growth, accounting for 34.3% of the total foreign trade, 2.4 percentage points higher year-on-year. Trade with RCEP trading partners grew by 1.5%.

4. Proportion of electro-mechanical products in exports increased. In the first half of 2023, exports of electro-mechanical products increased by 6.3% to RMB6.66 trillion, taking up 58.2% of exports, 1.4 percentage points higher year-on-year. Exports of electrical equipment, motor vehicles and their parts, and general machines rose by 27.7%, 58.5% and 12.2% to RMB636.06 billion, RMB621.19 billion, RMB200.44 billion, respectively. Exports of labor-intensive products grew by 0.04% to RMB1.97 trillion. Exports of articles of apparel and clothing accessories, plastic articles and footwear stood at RMB516.94 billion, RMB343.42 billion, RMB172.93 billion, up by 0.7%, 3.2% and 0.4%.

5. Imports of commodities and consumer goods witnessed rapid growth. In the first half of 2023, imports of commodities including energy products, ores and grain were up by 17.1%. China imported 561 million tons of energy products including crude oil, natural gas and coal, up by 33.2%; 710 million tons of metalliferous ores including iron ores and aluminium ores, up by 8.3%. Imports of consumer goods increased by 6.6% to RMB974.84 billion. Imports of meat and edible aquatic products increased by 9.5％and 30％, respectively.