In the first five months, China's imports and exports increased by 28.2%, and the structure continued to optimize
According to data from the General Administration of Customs on the 7th, China's total import and export value for the first five months of this year was RMB 14.76 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 28.2% and a year-on-year increase of 21.6% compared to the same period in 2019. Among them, exports amounted to 8.04 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.1% and a growth of 23.6% compared to the same period in 2019; Imports amounted to 6.72 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.9% and a 19.2% increase compared to the same period in 2019; The trade surplus was 1.32 trillion yuan, an increase of 56.2% year-on-year. Analysis points out that under multiple favorable conditions, China's foreign trade has achieved sustained and significant growth, and the main commodities driving rapid export growth have shifted from epidemic prevention materials such as masks to "home economy" products such as electronic devices, showing a series of structural optimization trends.
From the perspective of the month, in May, China's total import and export value was 3.14 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.9%, a month on month decrease of 0.4%, and an increase of 20.8% compared to the same period in 2019. Among them, exports amounted to 1.72 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.1%, a month on month increase of 0.2%, and a year-on-year increase of 19.5% compared to the same period in 2019; Imports amounted to 1.42 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.5%, a month on month decrease of 1.1%, and an increase of 22.3% compared to the same period in 2019; The trade surplus was 296 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 32.1%.
Pang Chaoran, Deputy Researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told a reporter from the Economic Reference Daily that China's foreign trade has continued to maintain a significant year-on-year growth, driven by the recovery of external demand, the return of orders, and previous policies. The year-on-year growth of foreign trade in May was basically consistent with high-frequency data such as port foreign trade cargo throughput. He also pointed out that the main commodities driving rapid export growth have shifted from epidemic prevention materials such as masks to "home economy" products such as electronic devices.
Recently, commodity prices have received a lot of attention. According to customs statistics, imports of commodities such as iron ore, crude oil, and soybeans have shown a simultaneous increase in quantity and price, while imports of natural gas have seen an increase in quantity and a decrease in price.
Specifically, in the first five months, China imported 472 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 6%, with an average import price of 1032.8 yuan per ton, an increase of 62.7%; Crude oil reached 221 million tons, an increase of 2.3%, with an average import price of 2809.2 yuan per ton, an increase of 9.1%; Natural gas reached 49.782 million tons, an increase of 24.5%, with an average import price of 2234.1 yuan per ton, a decrease of 15.5%; Soybeans amounted to 38.234 million tons, an increase of 12.8%, with an average import price of 3290.7 yuan per ton, an increase of 18.7%.
Pang Chaoran believes that the recent rise in commodity prices is mainly concentrated on the production side, with limited transmission towards consumption; In terms of product types, the main ones are metal crude oil, etc. The price increase of other industrial products is limited. From the input-output table of export products, the proportion of input for such products is not high. From the changes in Yiwu's export commodity price index, the price increase of labor-intensive products is limited. However, it is still necessary to pay close attention to the impact of changes in the prices of bulk commodities and electronic core components on the profits of export enterprises, "he said.
Information source: Economic Reference Report
