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The latest statistics released by the General Administration of Customs on February 14 show that in January this year, the total value of my country's imports and exports of goods was 2.73 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.7 percent year-on-year. Among them, exports were 1.5 trillion yuan, up 13.9 percent; imports were 1.23 trillion yuan, up 2.9 percent; and the trade surplus was 271.16 billion yuan, up 1.2 times.

"In January this year, my country's foreign trade imports and exports continued to maintain a steady and positive momentum and achieved a good start." At a regular press conference held on the 14th, Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that while maintaining growth, China's foreign trade import and export continued to optimize its structure and accelerate the transformation of power.

　　Achieve 8.7% growth and continuous structural optimization

"8.7 percent is an overall dynamic and balanced growth rate, which, while not double-digit growth, is higher than GDP growth. Foreign trade imports and exports achieved better results in January." Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with reporters.

In January this year, while maintaining steady growth in foreign trade, the characteristics of continuous structural optimization are more obvious.

Looking at changes from one rise to one fall: In January, my country's general trade imports and exports were 1.66 trillion yuan, an increase of 13%, accounting for 60.9 of my country's total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, exports were 896.3 billion yuan, up 20.9 percent; imports were 766 billion yuan, up 5 percent; the trade surplus was 130.3 billion yuan, up 10 times; and in the same period, imports and exports of processing trade were 680.7 billion yuan, down 0.9 percent, or 24.9 percent, or 2.4 percent.

"The rapid growth and increase in the proportion of general trade is a reflection of the transformation of the mode of foreign trade development. The brand effect and high technical content of general trade carry shows that the new advantages of China's foreign trade competition are at work." Bai Ming said.

Looking at the new space for foreign trade growth from the perspective of the layout of the international market: in January, my country's imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" increased by 11.5, 2.8 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, and its proportion in my country's total foreign trade increased by 0.7 percentage points to 28.2.%; Exports to emerging markets and developing countries such as ASEAN, Brazil, India, and South Africa increased by 17.6, 17.4, 16.1 and 21.6 respectively.

From the perspective of business entities, private enterprises exported 777.36 billion billion yuan, an increase of 21.9 percent, accounting for 51.8 percent of the total export value, and continued to maintain their position as the largest business entity in exports.

In terms of commodity structure, in January this year, exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled 857.51 billion billion yuan, an increase of 11.5 percent, accounting for 57.1 percent, and contributing 50.1 percent to export growth. Ten major categories of commodities, such as crude oil, natural gas and coal, together led to an increase in imports by 1.7 percentage points, while soybean imports fell.

　　The export structure is improved, and the toughness is gradually enhanced.

"The year-on-year growth rate of import and export trade both rebounded more than expected." Wen Bin, chief researcher of China Minsheng Bank, believes that the year-on-year growth rate of exports has rebounded sharply, which is significantly better than the previous month and expectations. The rebound in exports is related to the structural improvement and resilience of China's export regions.

In terms of specific data, the year-on-year growth rate of China's exports to major regions improved in January, with the year-on-year growth rate of exports to the EU rebounding from -0.33 per cent to 14.49 per cent, to ASEAN from 4.34 per cent to 11.50 per cent, and to Japan from -1.03 per cent to 5.64 per cent. The growth rate of exports to the United States remained negative, but also narrowed from -3.54 per cent to -2.77 per cent.

Judging from the structure of export commodities in January, the export added value of integrated circuits, automobiles and their chassis, computers and their components and other products further increased, with the export value increasing by 30.3 per cent, 36.5 per cent and 14.3 per cent respectively, and the export unit price increasing by 34.6 per cent, 17.2 per cent and 19.3 per cent respectively.

"In the context of greater uncertainty in the international market, the unexpected rebound in exports shows that my country's export structure has improved and its resilience has gradually increased." Wen Bin pointed out.

In the past 2018, China's total import and export volume, export volume and import volume all set a new record and stood on a new height. At the same time, the transformation of the old and new kinetic energy of foreign trade development is accelerating, and the business environment for the development of new foreign trade formats has been continuously improved. 22 new cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones and 6 market procurement trade pilots have been established, and cross-border e-commerce market procurement Trade has maintained rapid growth for three consecutive years, becoming a new bright spot in foreign trade growth, and the export of high-quality, high-tech, high-value-added products has grown steadily. In 2018, 1.216 million cars were exported with a value of US $14.85 billion, and the export of complete sets of equipment exceeded US $130 billion.

　　confident of maintaining steady growth in foreign trade

"We are confident of maintaining steady growth in foreign trade in 2019." Chu Shijia, director of the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that the current situation facing my country's foreign trade development is still complex and severe, but the Central Economic Work Conference has pointed out that my country's development is still in and will be in a period of important strategic opportunities for a long time. At present, the stable development of China's foreign trade still has many favorable factors.

"The growth of China's foreign trade has both resistance and driving force. The resistance is the slowdown of the world economy, which has an adverse impact on my country's foreign trade." Bai Ming's analysis pointed out that it must also be noted that although the downward pressure on the world economy has increased, it will continue to recover slowly; the domestic initiative to expand opening up, the effect of stabilizing foreign trade policies, and the acceleration of industrial upgrading will all provide strong support for my country's foreign trade development.

Bai Ming believes that the current international market situation facing China's foreign trade is relatively complex, which can be said to be ever-changing, sometimes positive and sometimes negative. In this context, the key to determining the trend of China's foreign trade is its own competitive advantage. The traditional competitive advantage is price, and the future competitiveness is reflected in quality, service, technology and brand. "As long as you are competitive, you will not be afraid of the external environment." Bai Ming suggested that while improving their core competitiveness, enterprises should also eat "nest grass". In the era of economic globalization, the Chinese market itself is also a part of the international market. It is necessary to make full use of the Chinese branch of the international market and actively expand the "Belt and Road" and the European market.

Chu Shijia emphasized that in 2019, it is necessary to further explore diversified markets, optimize the layout of the international market, vigorously cultivate new formats and models of foreign trade, promote the innovative development of processing trade, actively expand imports, stimulate import potential, and make every effort to host the second China International Import Expo, further enhance the level of trade facilitation, and promote the high-quality development of foreign trade.

Bai Ming said that the government should set up a platform for enterprises to expand development space. At home, through the reform and innovation of the pilot free trade zone, the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have formed an important carrier for sustainable development; overseas, the foreign trade space has been continuously expanded through the construction of the "Belt and Road" and free trade zone negotiations.