In 2014, the development situation of China’s foreign trade was complex and severe. In January-April, the country suffered “double falls” of import and export which had not appeared for many years. The Central Government and the State Council attached great importance to this and introduced policy documents to support stable development of foreign trade and increase imports immediately. All departments and local governments focused on implementation with unprecedented force and introduced a series of practical measures which effectively shored up confidence of enterprises and motivated the vitality of market players. After May, the growth of Chinese import and export began to stabilize and pick up, the increase of foreign trade was stabilized, positive achievements were made in structure adjustment and the development quality and benefits were further improved.
According to customs statistics, in 2014, the import and export volume of China totaled US$4.30304 trillion, with an increase of 3.4% year on year, among which the export volume reached US$2.34275 trillion, an increase of 6.2% year and year, and the import volume was US$1.96029 trillion, an increase of 0.4% year on year. The trade surplus was US$382.46 billion, expanding 47.7%.
In 2014, Chinese foreign trade maintained a stable increase, the growth of import and export was faster than the world’s major economies and new emerging developing countries, the proportion of global market shares went up steadily and China continued to maintain the biggest power status of trade in goods worldwide. If the influence of the cardinal number of bed hedgehopping of abnormal trade in some months of 2014 was removed, the actual increase of China’s import and export was 6.1% and the actual growth of export was 8.7%, exceeding the expected growth goal at the beginning of last year. The quality and benefits of the development of China’s foreign trade were improved to some extent as a whole when maintaining the stable growth of foreign trade. Outstanding performance can be seen in the following nine aspects.
1. The growth rate of China’s foreign trade was still higher than the main economies of the world. According to the statistics of China and its major trading partners, in January-November 2014, the growth rate of import and export of China was 0.4 percentage points, 3.1 percentage points and 5.8 percentage points higher than the United States, the Europe Union (in January-October) and Japan respectively, and 5.2 percentage points and 8.7 percentage points higher than India (in January-October) and Brazil.
2. Shares of the international market went up steadily. China was expected to continue to maintain the status of the largest trading country in the whole world with steadily increasing shares. According to the statistics of the World Trade Organization in January-September of 2014, China accounted for 12.2% of the global trade, 1 percentage point higher than 2013.
3. The international market layout was more reasonable. The proportions of exports to new emerging markets and developing countries were further improved, accounting for 45.4% of the total, 1.6 percentage points higher than 2013.
4. The domestic regional distribution was further optimized. The foreign trade development abilities of central and western regions were enhanced and the foreign trade proportion of these regions was further improved. In 2014, the import and export growth rate of central and western regions was 14.8%, with an increase of o.8 percentage points year on year, accounting for 15.4% of the whole country, 1.5 percentage points higher than 2013.
5. The export commodity structure was further optimized. The exports of large-sized complete sets of equipment and featured products enjoyed rapid growth. In 2014, large-sized complete sets of equipment such as electric power, communication and rolling stocks continued growing rapidly, with an increase of more than 10% and the proportion of this export accounted for 4.7%, 0.2 percentage points higher than 2013. The export of mechanical and electrical products accounted for 56.0% of the total export.
6. The structure of business entities was further optimized. Private enterprises became the most dynamic operating entities with the best potential to export. In 2014, the export of private enterprises increased 10.4%, 1.7 percentage higher than 2013, contributing to 71.8% of the total export growth of the whole country.
7. The mode of trade was further optimized. In 2014, the general trade export increased 10.7% year on year, accounting for 51.4% of the total value of the export and the proportion in the whole year surpassed 50% for the first time in the past 20 years, contributing 87.8% of the total export growth.
8. New trade models flourished. New trade models such as e-commerce and market purchase were becoming the new growth points of foreign trade. In 2014, the growth of cross-border e-commerce was more than 30%. The export value of market purchase in Yiwu reached US$19.29 billion, with an increase of 36.8%.
9. Import benefits were improved. The import prices of bulk commodities declined but the quantities increased. The import cost of enterprises was effectively reduced and the import benefits were improved when domestic demands for production were met.
In 2015,the development of China’s foreign trade is still faced with a complex and severe situation, with enterprises being challenged by many difficulties. In the face of new trends and new challenges, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to deeply promote the implementation work of the policy of stabilizing growth, practically ease the heavy burdens of enterprises, improve the external operating environment of enterprises, consolidate traditional advantages of foreign trade, stabilize the export of labor intensive products, accelerate cultivating new advantages of foreign trade competition focusing on technology, brand, quality and service, strive to maintain the stable growth of foreign trade and continue to enable export to play a role in supporting economic development.
