According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of 2017, China's
trade data international import and export totaled 6.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.8%; of which exports were 3.33 trillion yuan, up 14.8%; imports were 2.87 trillion yuan, up 31%. In the first quarter, foreign trade import and export achieved rapid growth, and last year continued to maintain a good momentum.
From the perspective of the international market, China's exports to the traditional markets such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan increased by 16.8%, 14.0%, and 11.0%, respectively; for countries along the "Belt and Road" countries such as Russia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, the import and export grew rapidly, and the increased speed of the first quarter reached 37.0%, 32.8%, 31.6% and 28.5% respectively.
There are four main reasons for the rapid growth of China's trade data
international import and export in the first quarter: First, the international market is slowly recovering. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in January this year that the world economy will grow by 3.4% in 2017, 0.3 percentage higher than last year. Import demand from major economies such as the United States has rebounded. According to WTO statistics, imports from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Canada increased by 6.2%, 7.6%, 21.7%, and 6.0% in January and February this year. Second, the import prices of bulk commodities have increased. In the first quarter, China's crude oil, iron ore, natural gas, coal, rubber, logs and other 10 categories of commodities (accounting for 25.4% of total imports in the same period) import prices rose 2.5% - 99.8%, driving imports growth of 10.9 percentage points. Third, the base was low last year. In the first quarter of 2016, the import and export volume was 5.1 trillion yuan, the lowest level since the same period in 2011. In addition to the above reasons, there is also a very important factor. In recent years, a series of policy effects of the State Council's support for foreign trade development have gradually emerged, the business environment has continued to improve, and corporate innovation capabilities have increased, and power conversion has accelerated.
