Smooth or Bad! ? There are Some Changes in China’s Foreign Trade! Foreign Trade Container Data can Explain

Recently, the Financial Times Chinese website published an article titled “China’s foreign trade situation is not so bad.”

“If China’s trade is falling, as exports suggest, then the growth in cargo at seaports and airports is clearly irrational – can it be said that shipping companies and airlines are running around with empty boxes?” This question is also a perplexing point.

Import and export data

According to the General Administration of Customs, in US dollar terms, China’s imports and exports in August this year were 501.38 billion US dollars, down 8.2% year-on-year. Among them, the export was 284.87 billion US dollars, down 8.8% year on year; Imports were 216.51 billion US dollars, down 7.3% year on year; The trade surplus was $68.36 billion, down 13.2 percent year on year.

Among them, the general trade import and export increased, the proportion increased; Imports and exports to ASEAN increased, imports to the EU and the United States increased; Exports of mechanical and electrical products accounted for nearly 60%, and automobile exports grew strongly.

In dollar terms, China’s import and export value in the first eight months of this year was 3.89 trillion US dollars, down 6.5 percent year-on-year. Among them, the export was 2.22 trillion US dollars, down 5.6% year on year; Imports were US $1.67 trillion, down 7.6% year-on-year. The trade surplus was 553.4 billion US dollars, up 0.8% year-on-year.

Foreign trade container data

Throughput is composed of domestic trade and foreign trade, foreign trade is divided into heavy boxes and empty boxes, foreign trade heavy box data, in order to truly reflect the level of foreign trade export.

First look at the foreign trade box, the simplest logic is that the volume of the main global demand side and the supply side should be roughly matched, and the throughput growth trend of European and American ports is consistent with that of Chinese ports.

In the first half of the year, Chinese ports completed 149 million TEU of container throughput, an increase of 4.8%, while Europe’s Top15 container ports completed 76.567 million TEU, a decrease of 4.2%, only two ports increased, the port of Rotterdam, Antwerp Port of Bruges, the port of Hamburg three major hub ports decreased by more than 5%.

In North America, according to the Japan Maritime Center, from January to July, Asia sent 10.3130 million TEU to the United States, a decrease of 2.7327 million TEU, of which China sent 5722,500 TEU to the United States, a decrease of 1.8117 million TEU, a decrease of 24%.

When the throughput of major ports in Europe and the United States and the volume of imported containers are declining, the increase in China’s container throughput is difficult to explain with foreign trade boxes, and does not match the export value.

Looking at the domestic foreign trade box statistics, from January to July, the main coastal inland port enterprises according to the statistics of the China Port Association completed a cumulative container throughput of 158.116 million TEU, an increase of 4.8%.

Among them, the cumulative foreign trade container throughput of 93.9050 million TEU, an increase of 0.7%. This data is more consistent with the export value, and also shows that the main force driving the throughput growth is domestic trade boxes.

Foreign trade is generally stable

Recently, Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yadong said, “In general, China’s foreign trade withstands multiple pressures, shows strong resilience, the overall operation is stable, and the data has shown some positive changes.”

“When looking at the foreign trade situation, we should look at both the current ‘shape’ and the long-term ‘trend’; We should look at both the ‘stable’ scale and the ‘excellent’ structure.” He Yadong further said.

Since the beginning of this year, the global economic and trade growth is weak, which is the general environment for the development of China’s foreign trade. Affected by the superposition of economic and non-economic factors, China’s foreign trade continues to be under pressure, and the situation is grim and complex.

In the face of risks and challenges, foreign trade enterprises rise to the challenge and actively explore the international market; Steady foreign trade policies continue to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of blocked points and difficulties to speed up the dredging; Enhanced competitiveness of competitive products, continue to contribute to export growth.

What measures will be taken to promote stability and improve the quality of foreign trade? He Yadong said that in the next step, focusing on foreign trade to promote stability and improve quality, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to push policies, grasp the implementation, make up for weaknesses, strong advantages, and further improve the toolbox of trade policies for the market and enterprise concerns.

For example, the introduction of special policies to enhance the development level of processing trade, and the introduction of policies to promote the development of service trade and digital trade; We will be committed to cultivating growth momentum, consolidating the foundation of innovation, and effectively stabilizing the basic level of foreign trade, so as to make due contributions to the recovery of China’s economy.