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Review of China’s Foreign Trade in 2023

January 12, 2024

According to Customs statistics, China’s foreign trade volume in 2023 reached RMB41.76 trillion, up by 0.2% than the previous year. Exports grew by 0.6% to RMB23.77 trillion and imports decreased by 0.3% to RMB17.99 trillion.

The details are as follows:

1. Foreign trade has shown overall stability and picked up markedly in Q4. Foreign trade has been expanding quarter on quarter. The import and export values stood at RMB9.69 trillion in Q1, and exceeded RMB10 trillion in Q2, Q3 and Q4, respectively. In Q4, the import and export values expanded by 0.8%, 1.3% and 2.8% in October, November and December, with increasing growth rates. Foreign trade volume of December scored RMB3.81 trillion, reaching a historic high on a monthly basis.

2. Foreign trade entities have shown strong vitality with private enterprises playing a more prominent role. In 2023, the number of enterprises with exports’ and imports’ record surpassed 600,000 for the first time. The number of private enterprises registered 556,000. Private enterprises made RMB22.36 trillion in imports and exports, an increase of 6.3%, accounting for 53.5% of the country’s total foreign trade volume, 3.1 percentage points higher year-on-year. Over the same period, foreign-invested enterprises and state-owned enterprises marked RMB12.61 trillion and RMB6.68 trillion in foreign trade, accounting for 30.2% and 16% of the country’s total foreign trade volume.

3. Trade kept growing with diverse trading partners, with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries seeing greater proportion. In 2023, China’s trade with BRI partner countries totaled RMB19.47 trillion, up by 2.8%, accounting for 46.6% of China’s total foreign trade, 1.2 percentage points higher than the previous year. Trade with Latin America and Africa scored RMB3.44 trillion and RMB1.98 trillion, up by 6.8% and 7.1% year-on-year. China’s trade with the EU and the US in Q4 rebounded to RMB5.51 trillion and RMB4.67 trillion, accounting for 13.2% and 11.2% of the total foreign trade.

4. Products kept strong competitive advantages and drivers of export remained diverse and robust. In 2023, exports of electro-mechanical products increased by 2.9% to RMB13.92 trillion, taking up 58.6% of the total exports, up by 1.3 percentage points year-on-year. Exports of “the new three”, namely electric vehicles for transport of persons, lithium-ion batteries and solar cells rose by 29.9% to RMB1.06 trillion, passing the RMB1 trillion mark. Exports of ships and household appliances rose by 35.4% and 9.9%. Over the same period, exports of labor-intensive products registered RMB4.11 trillion, accounting for 17.3% of the total exports.

5. Domestic demand continued to recover with imports of commodities and essential products expanding. In 2023, imports of commodities including energy products, metalliferous ores and grain food were up by 15.3%. China imported 1.158 billion tons of energy products including crude oil, natural gas and coal, up by 27.2%; 1.458 billion tons of metalliferous ores including iron ores and aluminium ores, up by 7.6%. Over the same period, imports of agricultural products increased by 5% to RMB1.64 trillion. Imports of consumer goods including textile, clothing, shoes and hats grew by 5.6%. Imports of jewellery and clocks & watches increased by 63% and 17.2%.

6. High-standard opening-up progressed steadily with new platforms and new business forms showing good momentum of growth. In 2023, the number of China’s pilot free trade zones (FTZ) expanded to 22. Their trade volume rose by 2.7% to RMB7.67 trillion, accounting for 18.4% of the country’s total foreign trade volume. Solid progress has been made in developing Hainan Free Trade Port with a double-digit annual growth in foreign trade for three consecutive years. According to preliminary statistics, the import and export values of cross-border e-commerce of China was RMB2.38 trillion, an increase of 15.6%.