According to news from China.com on April 12, the State Council Information Office recently held a press conference on the import and export situation in the first quarter of 2024. Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, reported on my country's foreign trade import and export situation in the first quarter of this year and said that in the first quarter of this year, our country adheres to The general tone of the work is to seek progress while maintaining stability, implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, solidly promote high-quality development, the economic operation continues to pick up and improve, the quality of foreign trade development is steadily improved, and the import and export scale reaches a new level. . Specific analysis mainly has the following five characteristics:
First, the scale of import and export exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time in history during the same period, and the growth rate of import and export hit a new high in six quarters. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, my country's total import and export value of goods trade was 10.17 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5% (the same below). Among them, exports were 5.74 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.9%; imports were 4.43 trillion yuan, an increase of 5%; exports and imports accelerated by 4.1 percentage points and 2.3 percentage points respectively compared with the fourth quarter of last year.
Second, the growth rate of imports and exports from countries co-building the "Belt and Road" and other BRICS countries is higher than the overall growth rate. In the first quarter, my country's imports and exports to countries co-building the "Belt and Road" were 4.82 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.5%, accounting for 47.4% of the total import and export value, an increase of 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, imports and exports to ASEAN were 1.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.4%. During the same period, imports and exports to the other nine BRICS countries were 1.49 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.3%, accounting for 14.7%. In addition, imports and exports to the EU, the United States, South Korea and Japan were 1.27 trillion yuan, 1.07 trillion yuan, 535.48 billion yuan, and 518.2 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 33.4% in total.
Third, the import and export of private enterprises maintained double-digit growth. In the first quarter, my country's private enterprises imported and exported 5.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.7%, accounting for 54.3% of the total import and export value, half of the country. During the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises was 2.97 trillion yuan, accounting for 29.3%; the import and export of state-owned enterprises was 1.64 trillion yuan, accounting for 16.1%.
Fourth, the export momentum of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products is good. In the first quarter, my country's exports of mechanical and electrical products were 3.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.8%, accounting for 59.2% of the total export value; among them, computers and their parts, automobiles, and ships increased by 8.6%, 21.7%, and 113.1% respectively. During the same period, the export of labor-intensive products was 975.72 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1%; among which, textiles and clothing, plastic products, furniture and parts increased by 5.4%, 14%, and 23.5% respectively.
Fifth, imports of bulk commodities and consumer goods for people's livelihood have steadily expanded. In the first quarter, my country's imports of energy, metal ores, grain and other bulk commodities increased by 6.2%. Among them, energy products such as crude oil, natural gas and coal were 286 million tons, an increase of 8%; iron, aluminum and other metal ores were 374 million tons, an increase of 5%; grain were 38.416 million tons, an increase of 5.1%. During the same period, imports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 9.6%, of which imports of electronic components increased by 13%. In addition, imports of textiles and clothing, dried and fresh fruits and nuts increased by 12.6% and 18% respectively.
Generally speaking, my country's foreign trade had a strong start and good momentum in the first quarter, laying a solid foundation for achieving the goal of "quality improvement, quantity stability" throughout the year. Currently, the international environment is undergoing profound changes, and world economic development is facing many severe challenges, which will bring greater challenges to my country's foreign trade. But at the same time, what is more important to note is that my country's economic fundamentals continue to improve, the comprehensive competitive advantage of foreign trade has become more consolidated, and the continued improvement of imports and exports has solid support.
