Yantian Port will be delayed for 14 days, and an additional $3000 may not be able to secure containers

On April 13th, the General Administration of Customs released the foreign trade data for the first quarter of this year. In the first quarter, China's import and export of goods increased by 4.8% year-on-year. In January, China's imports and exports decreased by 7%. In February, they turned from negative to positive and increased by 8%. In March, the year-on-year growth rate increased to 15.5%. After experiencing a decline in growth rate in January, there was a month by month improvement in the first quarter. What factors played a role behind this? Next, what are the challenges that need to be addressed to promote stability and improve the quality of foreign trade throughout the year?

How will foreign trade perform in the first quarter of 2023? Transcript released

On April 13th, the General Administration of Customs released the first quarter foreign trade data, showing that the total value of China's goods trade imports and exports in the first quarter was 9.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. What are the highlights of the first quarter foreign trade data? What information is revealed behind the data?

How to view the year-on-year growth of 16.1% in China's imports and exports to ASEAN in the first quarter, which is 11.3 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate?

Zhang Yansheng, Chief Researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center: Before the 2007 financial crisis, ASEAN was the fourth trading partner among us. The most important reason why it can rise to the first place is that: ① China has implemented the "dual circulation" strategy, and the main battlefield of the "dual circulation" strategy is actually the surrounding areas such as East Asia and Southeast Asia. ② We have seized the opportunity of the global economic shift to the east In the new stage, China's industrial and supply chains are actively transferring, configuring, and extending to the ASEAN region based on the current complex international and domestic environment. This trend reflects an important aspect of our high-quality development of foreign trade in the next 30 years.

Electric manned vehicles, solar cells, lithium batteries, the "new three" in foreign trade have promising future prospects

Zhang Yansheng, Chief Researcher of the China International Economic Exchange Center, said that the "New Three" largely reflects a global and Chinese green revolution, digital revolution, and innovation revolution. Whether it is the Fourth Industrial Revolution or the new round of Green Revolution, China has actually firmly entered the forefront of the world. Therefore, the "new three" are all new international cooperation and competitive advantages that China has emerged in the green revolution, energy revolution, and digital revolution.

How to stabilize exports to developed economies in order to stabilize foreign trade?

Zhang Yansheng, Chief Researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center: Last year, among China's export partner countries and regions, the United States, the European Union, and ASEAN, the three important export partners, accounted for a very close proportion of our total exports. At present, exports to the United States are our largest market, but the fastest growing exports to the United States are labor-intensive and traditional products such as toys, while the United States still exports more to us, such as soybeans, corn, and grains. The export models and product structures of the two major countries, China and the United States, are very traditional. The most important reason for this result is geopolitics. In this situation, when stabilizing the export market, I think the US market is important, but more importantly, it is necessary to stabilize the ASEAN market, the EU market, the Japanese market, and the Korean market. We also need to carry out comprehensive international cooperation to stabilize the export markets of other developed countries.

How to continue tapping into the potential between stable foreign trade and RCEP partner countries?

Zhang Yansheng, Chief Researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center: RCEP actually has three economic cooperation circles. An economic cooperation circle is China and ASEAN, and the focus is still on extending China's industrial chain, supply chain, and trade chain to the ASEAN region, which is the key to our regional market integration. The second part is Japan and South Korea. The three countries of China, Japan, and South Korea will determine the production mode and network in East Asia, so cooperation in this area is crucial. The third one is Australia and New Zealand. It is crucial for Australia and New Zealand to ensure the safety of their exported products to China. And there is a major opportunity here, which is the shift of the global economic center of gravity to the east, including demand, supply, innovation, services, capital, currency, and financial cooperation. Therefore, doing a good job of RCEP is related to the high-quality development of China's foreign trade and the overall situation of the whole Chinese path to modernization strategy.