China’s foreign trade is growing with factors suggesting steady growth in the fourth quarter

China’s total trade reached 32.33 trillion yuan ($4.57 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2024, setting a record high with a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent, it said on Monday The General Administration of Customs (GAC), noting that foreign trade maintained a constant growth, and the commercial structure continued to optimize.

While external and domestic challenges remain, there is still a solid foundation for China’s foreign trade to maintain steady growth in the final quarter of the year, thanks to the growing competitiveness of Chinese products and strong political support, officials and experts said.

As exports remain one of the biggest drivers of China’s economic growth, strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 will continue to provide strong support to ensure overall economic growth remains stable, experts noted.

Strong growth

In the first three quarters, China’s total exports amounted to 18.62 trillion yuan, up 6.2 percent year-on-year, while imports reached 13.71 trillion yuan, a 4.1 percent increase, according to officials at a GAC ​​press conference on Monday.

“Overall, China’s foreign trade operations remained stable in the first three quarters, with both exports and imports showing growth,” Wang Lingjun, deputy head of the GAC, told a news conference.

Wang said that while the domestic and international environments are becoming more complex and China’s foreign trade development is facing some challenges, the fundamentals of China’s economy, along with its vast market, strong resilience and great potential, remain unchanged. .

“As current policies and new measures continue to take effect, positive factors have accumulated for the development of foreign trade. There is a solid foundation for steady growth in imports and exports in the fourth quarter,” Wang said.

Zhou Maohua, an economist at China Everbright Bank, told the Global Times on Wednesday that despite an increasingly complex external environment, China’s foreign trade in the first three quarters performed “better than expected” and played a supporting role for economic growth.

Beyond the strong growth in total trade, there were many highlights in China’s imports and exports in the first three quarters of 2024.

China’s trade with Belt and Road Initiative partners reached 15.21 trillion yuan, up 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters, accounting for 47.1 percent of China’s total foreign trade in the period, according to the GAC.

China’s trade with other members of the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership rose 4.5 percent in the first three quarters, while that with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 9.4 percent.

Meanwhile, China’s private enterprises reached an import and export volume of 17.78 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, marking an increase of 9.4% year-on-year, which was 4.1 percentage points higher higher than the national average growth, according to GAC. Private companies contributed 93.8 percent to China’s overall trade growth, continuously injecting new vitality into the nation’s foreign trade development, GAC data shows.

Underscoring China’s ever-optimizing trade structure, in the first three quarters, exports of the “three new” items – electric vehicles (EVs), lithium batteries and photovoltaic products – reached 757.83 billion yuan, accounting for 4.1 % of the total value of exports, according to the data. GAC.

Amid China’s surge in exports of electric vehicles and other advanced products, some countries have sought to impose protectionist restrictions. At Monday’s press conference, GAC spokesman Lü Daliang said the imposition of tariffs by some countries is an unfair and unreasonable practice of trade protectionism.

China’s export of the “new three” items not only enriches global supply and alleviates inflationary pressure, but also contributes significantly to global efforts to combat climate change and promote ecological transformation, Lü said.

Increasing competitiveness

Also responding to a question about some countries’ concerns about China’s huge trade surplus at Monday’s press conference, Wang said China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus. Behind the recent expansion in the merchandise trade surplus are factors such as the improved competitiveness of China’s industries and stronger export resilience, as well as the impact of the recent decline in global commodity prices, which reduced the value of imports. , Wang said.

Li Yong, a senior researcher at the China International Trade Association, said the strong trade data indicated the continued rise in competitiveness of China’s trade sector, which helped the country largely counter external challenges, including so-called decoupling attempts by China. US.

“While the external environment has become more complex, external demand for Chinese products remains solid,” Li told the Global Times on Monday. “In other words, Chinese products remain so competitive for consumers in many countries and regions that artificial attempts at decoupling cannot succeed.”

In particular, trade with the US increased by 4.2%, while that with the EU increased by 0.9%, according to GAC data.

Chinese experts remain confident that foreign trade will maintain steady growth despite external challenges. “Uncertainties remain in the external environment, but given the unchanged demand for Chinese products, I see no reason why China’s foreign trade would slow down,” Li said.

Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, also said that despite external uncertainties from rising protectionism and changes in monetary policy, there is still plenty of room for China’s foreign trade growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. .which will continue to provide strong support for economic growth.

“Given the relatively high growth rate, foreign trade is clearly a driving force for, rather than a frequency of, China’s overall economic growth,” Bai told the Global Times on Monday, noting that various policy measures put in place application to support foreign trade. the sector will help ensure stable growth in the fourth quarter.

Exports are one of the top three drivers of China’s economic growth. China’s GDP expanded 5% in the first half of 2024, and Chinese officials are expected to release third-quarter GDP data later this week.