Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with various departments and localities, has continued to vigorously implement a series of policies to support foreign trade development issued by the State Council, and vigorously promote the "five optimizations" of international market layout, domestic regional layout, product structure, business entities and trade methods. Accelerate the "three constructions" of foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, trade platforms, and international marketing networks, continue to promote pilot projects of new foreign trade formats, vigorously promote the innovative development and gradient transfer of processing trade, implement active and effective import policies, and achieve positive results in various tasks. Exports have achieved relatively rapid growth, the structure has been further optimized, the transformation of power has been accelerated, and the momentum of stabilization and improvement has been further consolidated. According to customs statistics, my country’s total imports and exports from January to November was 25.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.6% year-on-year (the same below); of which exports were 13.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.6%; imports were 11.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.9%; a surplus of 2.56 Trillion yuan, a 16.7% contraction.

The head of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce pointed out that my country’s foreign trade from January to November 2017 mainly showed the following characteristics:

From the perspective of commodity structure, the export of mechanical and electrical products was 8.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.6%, accounting for 58.1%, an increase of 0.5% over the same period last year, of which automobiles, computers and their parts, integrated circuits and mobile phones increased by 27.5% and 19.3% respectively , 12.7% and 9.1%. The exports of seven categories of traditional labor-intensive industries such as textiles and garments also maintained rapid growth, with an increase of 8.3%.

From the perspective of business entities, private enterprises exported 6.46 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.8%, accounting for 46.7%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from the same period last year, and continuing to maintain their position as the largest business entity in exports. The export of foreign-funded enterprises was 5.96 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.7%, accounting for 43.1% of China’s exports, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the same period last year.

From the perspective of trade mode, general trade exports were 7.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.4%, accounting for 54.4% of the country’s total foreign trade exports, an increase of 0.4% over the same period last year.

From the perspective of the international market, our exports to traditional markets such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan increased by 15.4%, 13.3%, and 8.8% respectively; to Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Malaysia and other "BRIC countries" and countries along the "Belt and Road" Exports grew rapidly, with growth rates reaching 36.8%, 20.4%, 20.2%, 17.4% and 16.2% respectively.

The person in charge of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the main reasons for the rapid growth of my country’s imports and exports from January to November 2017:

First, the international market is picking up. Since the beginning of this year, the world economy has shown a recovery trend, and trade and investment have rebounded. According to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economic growth in 2017 will reach 3.6%, among which the actual GDP growth rates of developed economies such as the United States, the Eurozone and Japan will reach 2.2%, 2.1% and 1.5% respectively, showing simultaneous growth situation. Recently, the Baltic Dry Index has risen above 1,600 points, the highest point in recent years. According to the latest data released by the WTO (in US dollars), imports from the 65 major economies increased by 10.2% from January to September, among which imports from Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the European Union increased by 9.6%, 20.1%, 6.4% and 7.3% respectively.

Second, the steady and positive domestic economy has led to a continuous increase in imports. Since the beginning of this year, my country's economy has continued to develop in a stable and positive trend. Gross domestic product maintained a medium-to-high growth rate. From January to October, fixed asset investment increased by 7.3% year-on-year. In November, the manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) was 51.8. The steady and positive domestic economy drove the increase in import demand. According to WTO data, China's import growth rate is significantly higher than the global average and major trading countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan. From January to November, only the increase in volume and price of ten commodities including crude oil, iron ore, and natural gas drove a 7.8% increase in total imports, of which imports increased by 0.7% to 24.4%, and import prices rose by 6.8% to 63.7%.

The third is that the policy effects have further emerged. Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with various departments and localities, has continued to vigorously implement a series of policies to promote foreign trade development promulgated by the State Council to effectively reduce the burden on enterprises and improve the business environment, and the policy effects have further appeared.

Fourth is the acceleration of corporate restructuring and power conversion. The business environment for the development of new forms of foreign trade continues to improve. The growth rate of exports such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement is significantly faster than the overall growth rate, which is becoming a new bright spot for foreign trade growth. A large number of companies are working hard from the supply side, insisting on driving innovation, accelerating their rotation, adjusting their structure, and focusing on cultivating new advantages in foreign trade competition centered on technology, brand, quality, service, and standards. The innovation capabilities and international competitiveness of companies are enhanced. The added value and brand influence are further improved.

In the next step, we will conscientiously study and implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, firmly establish and implement new development concepts, deepen supply-side structural reforms in the foreign trade sector, and vigorously implement innovation drive. Continue to promote the "five optimizations" and "three constructions", actively cultivate new trade formats and new models, promote the innovative development of processing trade, implement more active import policies, further improve the level of trade facilitation, consolidate and enhance traditional advantages, and foster competition New advantages, promote the building of a strong trade country, play a more important role in national economic and social development, and make greater contributions to the realization of the "two centenary" goals.