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According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on the 14th, in the first three quarters of this year, China's total imports and exports of goods trade reached 39.94 trillion yuan, up 18.8% year on year. How does the AI investment boom affect China's foreign trade? Intermediate goods account for more than half of total export value — what does that mean? Imports and exports have continued to grow rapidly — how was this achieved?
China's Goods Trade Imports and Exports Up 18.8% Year on Year in First Three Quarters
According to customs statistics, in the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports of goods trade totaled 39.94 trillion yuan, up 18.8% year on year. Among them, exports reached 23.2 trillion yuan, up 16.4%, and imports reached 16.74 trillion yuan, up 22.3%. On a monthly basis, double-digit growth was maintained for six consecutive months. In September, imports and exports reached 5.16 trillion yuan, exceeding 5 trillion yuan for the first time, up 27.5%.
In the first three quarters, export momentum continued to move toward new and better directions. The equipment manufacturing industry played a prominent leading role, contributing nearly 90% of export growth. Intermediate goods accounted for more than half of total export value, effectively playing the role of a "stabilizing anchor" for global production and supply chains.
On the import side, since March, China's import growth rate has exceeded 20% for seven consecutive months, and in September the import scale exceeded 2 trillion yuan for the first time. In the first three quarters, import growth was 5.9 percentage points higher than export growth. By individual country and region, imports from more than 110 countries and regions grew faster than exports, promoting balanced trade development.
Global AI Investment Accelerates, Computing Power and Power Equipment Exports Strong
What impact does the global artificial intelligence investment boom have on China's foreign trade? Wang Jun, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that in terms of computing power, in the first three quarters China's exports of integrated circuits grew 99.1%, computer parts and accessories grew 210%, and storage components such as solid-state drives grew 130%, ensuring the stable supply of intermediate products in the global computing power industrial chain; exports of data processing equipment such as servers grew 7.2%, helping global computing power infrastructure construction. In addition, China's AI glasses, intelligent bionic robots and other terminal products continue to enter the international market, constantly enriching global artificial intelligence application scenarios.
In terms of electric power, product exports made progress on multiple fronts in the first three quarters. From the three fields of "generation, transmission, and storage": in the energy generation field, exports of photovoltaic products grew 10.3%, and wind turbine generator sets and their parts grew 22.4%, continuing to fill the global clean energy supply gap; in the energy transmission field, exports of wires and cables grew 28.1%, and transformers grew 22.5%; in the energy storage field, exports of various types of batteries grew 34.8%, sold to more than 200 countries and regions worldwide.
China's Imports and Exports with Other APEC Economies Account for More Than 60% of Total Value
In the first three quarters, China's trade scale with other APEC economies accounted for more than 60% of total foreign trade value. Lü Daliang, spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs, introduced that in the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports with other APEC economies reached 24.07 trillion yuan, up 23.9% year on year, accounting for 60.3% of China's total import and export value, up 2.5 percentage points from the same period last year.
In industries such as electronics, automobiles, and machinery, China and other APEC economies have gradually formed innovation chains featuring complementary advantages and close cooperation, driving two-way growth in imports and exports of high-tech products. In the first three quarters, China's imports and exports of high-tech products with other APEC economies grew 50.3%, reaching 6.66 trillion yuan, already exceeding the full year of last year and contributing nearly half of the trade increment between China and other APEC economies. In particular, the integrated development of advanced manufacturing promoted the rapid expansion of trade in certain high-end and green products. In the first three quarters, China's imports of electronic components from other APEC economies grew 56%, and exports of "new three" products grew 37.1%.
Cooperation with other APEC economies on food import and export standards, inspection and quarantine was strengthened. In the first three quarters, China's food imports and exports with other APEC economies reached nearly 800 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the country's total food import and export value.
China's Cross-Border E-Commerce Imports and Exports at About 2.18 Trillion Yuan
In recent years, as a new form of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce retail imports and exports have flourished. Lü Daliang, spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs: China's cross-border e-commerce statistical survey is conducted every half year, separately calculating the cross-border e-commerce import and export situation for the first half of the current year and the full previous year. According to preliminary estimates by customs, in the first three quarters, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached about 2.18 trillion yuan, up 4.4%, of which exports were about 1.75 trillion yuan, up 4.6%, and imports were about 434.05 billion yuan, up 3.3%.
From the cross-border e-commerce statistical survey for the first half of the year, China's main cross-border e-commerce export commodities were apparel, footwear, bags and jewelry, home textiles, kitchen and bathroom utensils, etc., while the main imported commodities were pharmaceutical and health products and medical devices, beauty and personal care products, apparel, footwear, bags and jewelry, etc. Recently, we comprehensively replicated and promoted the "inspect first, then load" regulatory model to reduce enterprise export costs; supported enterprises in conducting cross-border e-commerce export business through international road transport, railway international combined transport, and other methods.
Intermediate Goods Account for More Than Half of Total Export Value — What Does It Mean?
It is worth noting that in the published export data, intermediate goods accounted for more than half of China's total export value in the first three quarters. What are intermediate goods? What does this figure mean? Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, introduced that intermediate goods mainly refer to products needed between raw materials and final products. Taking automobiles as an example, intermediate products may be the wheel axles of a car, or various parts of a car. These products play a filling and coordinating role in international trade. That is to say, when enterprises produce final products, they do not necessarily produce all intermediate goods themselves; they can rely on imports to enhance their own advantages and focus.
Such a high proportion of intermediate goods is also closely related to China's own industrial structure. In our industrial structure, enterprises are engaged in every subdivided category, and they have often formed their own scale advantages and industrial clustering. Therefore, many countries rely on importing intermediate goods from China to obtain basic support for their own development, advancing their industrialization. Of course, China also imports large quantities of intermediate goods produced by other countries. Trade in intermediate goods reflects the degree of closeness of trade among countries and creates better conditions for everyone to seek common but differentiated development paths in the future and obtain common benefits from development.
China's Foreign Trade Growth Was Strong in the First Three Quarters — How Was It Achieved?
In the first quarter of this year, China's imports and exports grew 15.3%, in the second quarter they grew 18.3%, and in the third quarter the growth rate further rose to 22.3%. On a monthly basis, in September imports and exports reached 5.16 trillion yuan, exceeding 5 trillion yuan for the first time, up 27.5%, maintaining double-digit growth for six consecutive months. How was the sustained rapid growth of imports and exports achieved?
An Ultra-Large Market That Keeps Expanding Creates Conditions for Imports and Exports
Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce: From the perspective of product supply and demand, China's export capacity is based on strong manufacturing capability. Our products are not only large in quantity, but their quality and technological level are also constantly improving, creating conditions for countries to meet their own development needs. On the other hand, China's ultra-large market continues to expand, which also creates conditions for countries' trade with and exports to China. In addition, China's trade environment continues to improve, and a series of measures have made it more convenient for countries to do business with China.
China Creates a Stable Trade Environment Through Market Openness
After trade links are established between countries, mutual trust will continue to support the long-term development of both sides. Some time ago, international trade and economic relations faced many challenges from trade protectionism and unilateralism. China, through the openness of its market, has created a stable environment for all parties. When such confidence is conveyed, a superimposed effect will form: the more business all parties do, the more willing they are to do business with us.
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