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

April 13, 2023

In the first quarter of 2023, 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 better coordinates domestic priorities with international priorities, COVID-19 response with social and economic development, and development and security imperatives. China has saw its economy picking up and achieved a good start and monthly progress in foreign trade. According to Customs statistics, China’s foreign trade volume in goods in the first quarter of 2023 reached RMB9.89 trillion, up by 4.8% year-on-year. Exports grew by 8.4% to RMB5.65 trillion and imports increased by 0.2% to RMB4.24 trillion.

The details are as follows:

1. The growth of imports and exports in goods increased month by month. On a year-on-year basis, China’s foreign trade volume in goods in January decreased by 7% due to the Spring Festival holidays. It resumed a positive increase of 8% in February, and further increased by 15.5% in March, picking up month by month. China’s foreign trade in the first quarter of 2023 rose by 4.8% year-on-year, 2.6 percentage points higher than the fourth quarter of 2022, getting a solid start for the whole year.

2. Foreign trade entities witnessed steady growth in number. In the first quarter of 2023, China has 457,000 foreign trade enterprises with export and import records, an increase of 5.9% year-on-year. China’s private enterprises rose by 7.5% to 384,000 with their imports and exports increasing by 14.4% to RMB5.18 trillion, accounting for 52.4% of the country’s total. Foreign-invested enterprises and state-owned enterprises marked RMB3.04 trillion and RMB1.65 trillion in imports and exports, accounting for 30.7% and 16.7% of the total foreign trade, respectively.

3. Proportion of general trade increased. In the first quarter of 2023, China's general trade rose by 7.9% to RMB6.46 trillion, accounting for 65.3% of China’s total foreign trade volume, 1.9 percentage points higher over the same period last year. Exports increased by 12.7% to RMB3.68 trillion. Imports grew by 2.2% to RMB2.78 trillion. Processing trade reached RMB1.79 trillion, accounting for 18.1% of the total foreign trade volume.

4. Imports and exports with ASEAN countries witnessed rapid growth. In the first quarter of 2023, the trade with China’s largest trading partner ASEAN scored RMB1.56 trillion, up by 16.1% year-on-year, 11.3 percentage points higher than the overall trade growth, accounting for 15.8% of the total foreign trade. China's trade with the EU, the US, Japan and the ROK reached RMB1.34 trillion, RMB1.11 trillion, RMB546.41 billion and RMB528.46 billion, accounting for 35.6% of the total foreign trade. Trade with countries along the Belt and Road grew by 16.8%, accounting for 34.6% of the total foreign trade, 3.5 percentage points higher year-on-year. Trade with RCEP trading partners grew by 7.3%.

5. Exports of electro-mechanical products and labour-intensive products rose. In the first quarter of 2023, exports of electro-mechanical products increased by 7.6% to RMB3.27 trillion, taking up 57.9% of the total foreign trade. Exports of automobiles, household appliances, electric accumulators rose by 96.6%, 3.2% and 84.8% to RMB147.47 billion, RMB141.24 billion, RMB116.34 billion, respectively. Exports of labor-intensive products grew by 5.7% to RMB947.46 billion. Exports of garments, plastic articles and furniture stand at RMB241.85 billion, RMB170.24 billion, RMB107.26 billion, up by 6.7%, 11.1% and 0.8%.

6. Imports of energy products and consumer goods increased. In the first quarter of 2023, imports of energy products including crude oil, natural gas and coal were up by 9.1% to RMB758.72 billion, accounting for 17.9% of China's total imports. Imports of consumer goods increased by 6.9% to RMB478.74 billion. Imports of meat and edible aquatic products reached RMB50.15 billion and RMB31.46 billion, up by 22.5% and 21.9%, respectively.