<Article>国务院新闻办公室发布会材料（英文）</Article>

China’s Foreign Trade Volume in 2012 Reaching

US $3.8 Trillion

(January 10, 2013)

General Administration of Customs, the People’s Republic of China

According to China Customs, China’s exports and imports volume totaled US $3.86676 trillion in 2012 with an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. The country’s exports reached US $2.04893 trillion, an increase of 7.9%. Imports rose 4.3% from a year ago to reach US $1.81783 trillion. The trade surplus was US $231.1 billion, which increased by 48.1%. Both exports and imports hit record highs in December 2012 and went up to reach US $366.84 billion, an increase of 10.2%. In December, monthly exports and imports were US $199.23 billion and US $167.61 billion, rising by 14.1% and 6% respectively, which generated a surplus of US $31.62 billion, up 91.8%.

As China’s foreign trade growth slowed down in 2012, the annual growth rate dropped 16.3% compared with 2011. China’s exports and imports in 2012 showed a slow but steady growth. The scale of exports and imports was expanding on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The growth in exports and imports touched the bottom in the third quarter of the year before it picked up its growth momentum. Exports and imports in four quarters of 2012 were US $859.46 billion, US $979.69 billion, US $1.0027 trillion and US $1.02491 trillion, increasing by 7.3%, 8.5%, 3% and 6.3% respectively.

The major features of China’s foreign trade in 2012 are as follows:

1. General trade grew slowly and processing trade showed weak in growth. China’s general trade volume achieved US $2.00983 trillion in 2012 with an increase of 4.4%, which accounted for 52% of the country’s global trade volume. Exports were US $988.01 billion increasing by 7.7% and imports were US $1.02182 trillion increasing by 1.4%. The deficit in general trade amounted to US $33.81 billion, a decrease of 62.6%. In the meantime, China’s processing trade totaled US $1.34395 trillion with a growth rate of 3%, which accounted for 34.8% of its global trade volume. Exports and imports in processing trade grew by 3.3% and 2.4%, amounting to US $862.78 billion and US $481.17 billion respectively. The surplus in processing trade was US $381.61 billion, an increase of 4.5%.

2. China-EU and China-Japan trade decreased. In 2012, China-EU bilateral trade dropped 3.7% to reach US $546.04 billion. China-US trade volume totaled US $484.68 billion, which rose by 8.5%.

Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN went on to reach US $400.09 billion, showing a growth of 10.2%.

Bilateral trade between the Mainland and Hong Kong grew by 20.5% and hit US $341.49 billion. The bilateral trade volume between China and Japan stood at US $329.45 billion, which decreased by 3.9%. In the same period, China’s trade with Russia and Brazil reached US $88.16 billion and US $85.72 billion, which rose by 11.2% and 1.8% respectively.

3. The volume of foreign trade in Guangdong, Jiangsu and 5 other provinces and municipalities accounted for 80% of the total. The exports in mid-western regions witnessed a rapid growth.

In 2012, Guangdong’s imports and exports totaled US $983.82 billion, an increase of 7.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, imports and exports in Jiangsu and Beijing (including central authorities in Beijing), were US $548.09 billion and US $407.92 billion, up by 1.6% and 4.7% respectively. Imports and exports in Shanghai decreased by 0.2% to US $436.54 billion. In addition, imports and exports in Zhejiang, Shandong and Fujian were US $312.23 billion, US $245.54 billion and US $155.93 billion, up by 0.9%, 4.1% and 8.6% respectively. The total imports and exports of the above-mentioned seven provinces and municipalities accounted for 79.9% of total national imports and exports.

In terms of export, the exports in mid-western regions enjoyed a rapid growth in 2012. Export growth rates of Chongqing, Anhui, Henan and Sichuan were 94.5%, 56.6%, 54.3% and 32.5% respectively.

4. Imports and exports of private enterprises witnessed a rapid growth. In 2012, the volume of imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises rose by 1.8% year on year to US $1.894 trillion, accounting for 49% of total national imports and exports, 2.1 percentage points lower compared with a year earlier. Their exports increased by 2.8% to US $1.02275 trillion, taking up 49.9% of total national exports, and their imports totaled US $871.25 billion with a year-on-year growth of 0.8%, accounting for 47.9% of total nation imports.

In the same period, the volume of imports and exports of private enterprises reached US $1.22106 trillion with a year-on-year growth of 19.6%, occupying 31.6% of the total national foreign trade value. Their growth rate was 13.4 percentage points higher than that of the national foreign trade. Their exports jumped 21.1% to US $769.91 billion and their imports reached US $451.15 billion, a 17.2% year-on-year increase. In addition, the volume of imports and exports of the state-owned enterprises dipped 1.2% from a year earlier to US $751.71 billion, accounting for 19.4% of total national imports and exports, of which the exports decreased by 4.1% to US $256.28 billion, and the imports totaled US $495.43 billion with a year-on-year growth of 0.3%.

5. China’s exports of electro-mechanical products and traditional labor-intensive products witnessed a steady growth. In 2012, the exports of electro-mechanical products totaled US $1.17942 trillion with a year-on-year growth of 8.7%, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the national exports, occupying 57.6% of China’s total export value. Meanwhile, the exports of labor-intensive products of seven categories, including garment, textiles, footwear, furniture, plastics, bags and toys increased by 8.6% to US $418.89 billion, accounting for 20.4% of China’s total export volume. In addition, the exports of steel reached 55.73 million tons with a year-on-year growth of 14%; 990,000 vehicles were exported, up by 20.1%.

6. The imports of energy and resource products increased. In 2012, China imported 740 million tons of iron ores, up by 8.4% and the average import price decreased by 21.6% to US $128.6 per ton. The imports of soybeans reached 58.38 million tons, up by 11.2%, with the average import price standing at US $599.3 per ton, up by 5.8%. The imports of electro-mechanical products amounted to US $782.38 billion, up by 3.8%, which included 1.13 million vehicles, an increase of 9.1%.