What are the contributions and roles of foreign trade to China's overall economy in 2023? What is your prediction of the foreign trade trend in 2024? At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 12, Wang Lingjun, Deputy Customs Commissioner-General of GACC, and Lyu Daliang, spokesman for GACC and director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis, introduced the import and export situation throughout 2023 and answered questions from reporters.
Three Factors Support the Steady Growth of Foreign Trade
Wang Lingjun stated that in 2023, China's overall import and export have maintained growth. It is expected to maintain its position as the largest country in global trade in goods for seven consecutive years and continue to play a supporting role in the economy. Specifically, the supporting factors for steady growth of foreign trade are as follows:
First, the policy dividend of stabilizing foreign trade continues to be released. In 2023, all local departments have resolutely implemented the relevant work arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on promoting stability and quality improvement in foreign trade, and put forward some practical hard measures to stabilize the scale and optimize the structure of foreign trade, promoted the growth of private economic development, and accelerated the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. The customs office has also taken a number of targeted specific support measures to optimize the business environment, promoted the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and promoted the sustained and high-quality development of processing trade. The implementation of various helped policies and the continuous release of dividends have effectively stabilized the fundamentals of foreign trade and stimulated new momentum.
Second, China's super-large market and strong production capacity advantages. China has the largest middle-income group and is the world's most promising large market. In 2023, China imported more than RMB 5 trillion of bulk commodities, nearly RMB 3 trillion of electronic components and nearly RMB 2 trillion of consumer goods, providing broad market space and cooperation opportunities for enterprises from various countries. China's manufacturing scale ranks first in the world. In 2023, China exported RMB 23.51 trillion of manufacturing products, ranging from "power banks" that people often bring around when they go out, to electric vehicles for green travel, which can meet the needs of different markets. "Chinese National Tide" has also set sail overseas and attracted many foreign consumers.
Third, the hard work of each foreign trade business entity. In 2023, the number of foreign trade entities with import and export performance in China reached 645,000, hitting a record high. In response to changes in international demand, the vast number of foreign trade business entities faced difficulties, forged ahead with determination, actively expanded the market, strove for orders and constantly opened up new development opportunities.
At present, external demand is still sluggish, and many international institutions predict that the world economy and trade growth this year are generally not as good as before the epidemic; uncertain and unpredictable factors such as increasing trade protectionism, geopolitical conflicts and obstructed shipping channels in the Red Sea will interfere with trade activities. However, the recent survey results of key import and export enterprises by the GACC show that more than three-quarters of enterprises are expected to maintain or increase their imports and exports this year.
Foreign trade exports present four highlights
Lyu Daliang introduced that in the past year, the world economic recovery was sluggish, the overall performance of global trade was relatively slumping, and weak external demand had a direct impact on China's exports. In terms of figures, the growth rate of exports has indeed slowed down compared to previous years. However, it is more important to see that China's export reached a record high on a high base, not only realizing reasonable growth in volume, but also maintaining overall stability in share. Moreover, it achieved qualitative and effective improvement in growth momentum, regional pattern and other aspects, demonstrating strong resilience and comprehensive competitiveness. Specifically, the following four highlights are presented:
First, the share of global exports remains stable at a high level, and China's competitive advantage in manufacturing remains solid. According to the latest WTO data, it is estimated that China's export international market share will remain at a high level of about 14% in 2023. Market share is a direct reflection of market competitiveness. In 2023, China's market share has remained stable, the "pie" has not become smaller, and the overall competitiveness remained stable.
Second, the export of self-owned brands has increased significantly and the influence of Chinese brands has further expanded. In 2023, the export of China's self-owned brand products increased by 9.3%, and its share in the total export value increased by 1.7 percentage points. From the perspective of the market, China's self-owned brand products have been exported to more than 200 countries and regions around the world, and "China Brands" spread all over the world.
Third, important progress has been made in the construction of a modern industrial system and the proportion of equipment manufacturing exports has increased. In 2023, the export value of the equipment manufacturing industry reflecting industrial supporting and integration capabilities reached RMB 13.47 trillion, with an increase of 2.8%, and a rising share to 56.6% in China's total export value. Especially, China's automobile and shipbuilding industries had a solid development momentum, with the automobile production and sales volume having repeatedly reached new highs. The three major indicators of shipbuilding completion, newly received orders and hand-held orders took the lead in the world while the export value of related products increased by 66%, driving the overall growth of China's exports up by 1.5 percentage points.
Fourth, coordinated regional development advanced in an orderly manner, and a new pattern of regional opening up took shape at a faster pace. In 2023, the eastern region contributed to nearly 80% of China's total export value, with a growth rate of 0.6 percentage points higher than that of the whole, making outstanding contributions to stabilizing the overall export market. The exports of Northeast China increased by 6.5%, which was the fastest-growing region. The comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China has achieved new results in foreign trade. The central and western regions have played an active role in orderly undertaking the gradient transfer of processing trade and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of processing trade.
Overall, the continued downturn in external demand remained a major constraint to China's export growth, he said. At the same time, protectionism and unilateralism also have an impact on China's exports, and exports will face many difficulties. However, on the other hand, with policy support, industrial advantages and efforts of all parties, China's comprehensive competitive advantages in export will continue to be consolidated.
China's automobile export data are impressive
The reporter learned from the press conference that in recent years, with the continuous promotion of China's modern industrial system construction, China's automobile industry has unremittingly carried out scientific and technological innovation to build a complete industrial chain and supply chain. Automobile production and sales have repeatedly reached new highs, and the corresponding export scale was also gradually expanding. In 2021 and 2022, China's automobile export volume reached 2 million and 3 million consecutively. In 2023, it even crossed two million-level steps and exported 5.221 million vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 57.4%.
At the same time, China has vigorously promoted the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry, and the export of new energy vehicles has added a bright color to the industry. At present, one out of every three vehicles exported from China is an electric passenger vehicle. The annual export volume was 1.773 million units, up 67.1%, contributing to the global green and low-carbon transformation.
Lyu Daliang said that in the future, China's automobile industry still has a strong comprehensive competitive advantage, and it can continue to provide more and better innovative products to meet the needs of global consumers.
Three customs measures to promote stability and quality improvement
According to Wang Lingjun, in 2023, the customs office paid close attention to the implementation of various national policies and measures for stabilizing foreign trade, focused on promoting stability and improving quality and concerns of enterprises, and introduced several supporting measures such as 16 measures for optimizing the business environment within the scope of customs official duty. The local customs office refined nearly 1,000 specific measures according to local actual conditions, and made efforts at multiple levels, dimensions, all aspects and periods to form a three-dimensional space with policy support. According to field research and feedback, the improvement of the business environment, reduction of customs clearance time and optimization of supervision methods have been welcomed by business entities.
First, accelerate and facilitate customs clearance. Convenient measures for departure confirmation cover the Yangtze River Basin, saving 1-2 days of transit time. Imported iron ore is supervised according to the situation without complicated customs clearance. Enterprises' imports realize "checked upon unloading", reducing customs clearance time by 65%. The "Green Channel for Fresh and Perishable Commodities" shortens the inspection time of agricultural food products to less than 3 hours at most. The "cloud issuance" mode of inspection for export and quarantine certificates reduces the application time of enterprise certificates from 1~2 days to 10 minutes at most. Surveillance and inspection modes for vacuum packaging and other high-tech goods can reduce customs clearance time by about 80%.
Second, help enterprises to relieve difficulties and increase vitality. In 2023, the customs office introduced several targeted measures to help enterprises reduce burdens and increase efficiency, further stimulating their vitality. For example, the scope of application of active disclosure policy has been further expanded to reduce or exempt tax payment overdue fines of nearly RMB 200 million for enterprises as per law throughout the year; an objective and quantitative apportionment scheme for inland waterway freight has been launched to save nearly RMB 100 million for enterprises throughout the year; pilot implementation of export tax rebate declaration forms and invoice information filling "exemption" has improved the efficiency of enterprise tax rebate processing; efforts have been made to strengthen credit cultivation for specialized, sophisticated, distinctive and innovative enterprises to help enterprises cope with foreign technical trade measures, seize orders and expand markets.
Third, optimize service and promote growth drives. In 2023, the customs office continued to optimize the business environment at ports, continuously provided services of "Face-to-Face Policy Guidance by Customs Director", introduced 23 measures to promote the comprehensive reform of high-quality development in comprehensive bonded zones, optimized the import and export return measures of cross-border e-commerce commodities, supported multi-mode LCL export of export cargo of cross-border e-commerce and general trade, and strongly supported the healthy and standardized development of market procurement and border trade.
Wang Lingjun said that the customs office will resolutely implement throughout the spirit of the 2023 Central Economic Work Conference, continue to grasp the implementation and effect evaluation of existing policies and measures, focus on the pain points, difficulties and blockages of enterprises, study and reserve and launch more targeted and valuable new measures in due course, to contribute to accelerating the cultivation of new momentum for foreign trade, stabilizing the basic situation of foreign trade and foreign investment, and consolidating and enhancing the positive trend of economic recovery.
Outstanding performance of private enterprises in four aspects
The reporter learned that in 2023, the development of the private economy generally shows a basic trend of steady progress and stable improvement. In the field of foreign trade, private enterprises also have many outstanding performances, mainly in four aspects:
First, they have been the largest foreign trade business entity in China for five consecutive years. In 2023, its proportion in China's total foreign trade value reached 53.5%, driving the overall import and export growth by 3.2 percentage points. The number of enterprises reached 86.2%, a new high, further consolidating the steady dominant position of foreign trade.
Second, 66.4% of China's exported self-owned brand products were completed by private enterprises. Private enterprises continued to promote brand building, continuously achieved practical results in brand creation, brand management and brand effect, and enhanced the popularity and reputation of "Made in China" brands.
Third, private enterprises accounted for 68.1% of the import and export value of consumer goods in China. The overall technical strength continued to be enhanced, and its share in the export of high-tech consumer goods was increasing year by year. It played a dominant role in the import of meat, edible water products, vegetables, fruits, etc., serving people's livelihood more prominently.
Fourth, the import and export of BRI countries increased by 9.2%, and that to traditional markets such as the EU and the United States increased by 2.3% and 2% respectively. Private enterprises maintained their resilience to traditional markets while continuously exploring emerging markets.
Our next step, the customs office will, as always, conscientiously implement the policies and measures of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on promoting the development and growth of the private economy, adhere to "Two Unswervingly", focus on market access, factor acquisition, fair law enforcement, rights and interests protection, go deep into enterprises to guide policies, listen to opinions and solve problems, create a good environment for the development of private enterprises, further stimulate the vitality of private enterprises and enhance the resilience of private economic development.
RCEP policy dividends continue to be released
January 1, 2024 marks the second anniversary of the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Lyu Daliang introduced that in the past two years, regional trade costs have been greatly reduced, industrial chains and supply chains were more closely linked, and trade exchanges among members were closer. According to the data, China's imports and exports with other 14 RCEP members totaled RMB 12.6 trillion in 2023, with an increase of 5.3% over that of 2021 before the Agreement came into force.
First, the cooperation between the industrial chain and supply chain has been further promoted. In 2023, China's exports to other RCEP member countries reached RMB 6.41 trillion, and the proportion of China's exports increased by 1.1 percentage points compared with 2021, reaching 27%. Among them, the export scale of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 32.8%, and the proportion of China's exports to other RCEP members increased by 6.5 percentage points. Lithium batteries, auto parts and flat panel display modules have maintained substantial growth. During the same period, China imported RMB 6.19 trillion from other RCEP member countries, accounting for 34.4% of China's total import value. Among them, the import volume of energy products increased by 31.2% compared with 2021, and the proportion of China's energy imports increased by 2.5 percentage points to 32.4%.
Second, from the perspective of enterprise benefits, the actual effect is continuously released. In 2023, the preferential imports under RCEP reached RMB 90.52 billion and tax concessions were RMB 2.36 billion. The main preferential import commodities were plastics and their products, machinery and appliances and their parts, organic chemicals, etc.; the preferential exports reached RMB 270.07 billion and enjoyable tariff concessions as member countries were RMB 4.05 billion. The main visa export commodities included inorganic chemicals, clothing and accessories, plastics and their products, etc. 723 approved exporters nationwide independently issued 12,000 RCEP declarations of origin, with a value of RMB 10.18 billion.
Over the past two years, the customs office have conscientiously implemented the deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on implementing RCEP, implemented customs procedures and trade facilitation rules with high standards, strengthened international cooperation in animal and plant quarantine and food safety, and ensured that preferential rules of origin play an effective role. At the same time, the customs office accurately understood the demands of enterprises and continuously improved the public service level for RCEP.
Next, the customs office will strengthen international exchanges and cooperation with RCEP member customs, timely follow up on the latest developments of members, pay close attention to the implementation of measures such as trade facilitation and tariff preference commitments, undertake training in RCEP-related fields, improve the overall implementation level of the RCEP, create new opportunities for the development of enterprises in the region, and inject new impetus into regional economic cooperation.
Imports of bulk commodities increased by 15.3% throughout the year
According to Lyu Daliang, from the situation in 2023, China's import value has declined slightly. From a broader point of view, the import price has dropped by 3.1% and the import volume has increased by 2.9%. The decrease in import value in 2023 was affected by the decline in commodity prices, while China's import volume still increased, reflecting the continuous recovery of production and strong consumption demand in China. Import has played an important role in domestic production and life, and more foreign enterprises have shared market opportunities in China.
In terms of the import of raw materials and key parts, it has better met the needs of steady expansion of domestic production. In 2023, China's crude oil, natural gas and coal imports increased by 11%, 9.9% and 61.8% respectively, while iron ore, copper ore and aluminum ore increased by 6.6%, 9.1% and 12.9% respectively. At the same time, the import value of computer central processing components, aircraft parts and audio/video equipment parts increased by 61.6%, 40.8% and 11.5% respectively, which played an important role in the security and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain in related industries in China.
From the perspective of consumer goods imports, consumers 'shopping choices have been enriched. In 2023, the import of consumer goods such as specialty foods, maternal and infant supplies and digital household appliances was RMB 1.95 trillion, up 1.2%. In addition, China has accelerated the cultivation of import trade innovation demonstration zones and developed new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce. Preliminary statistics show that China's cross-border e-commerce imports reached RMB 548.3 billion in 2023, with an increase of 3.9%. Convenient and flexible online shopping enables consumers to have more and faster import channels.
China continues to expand imports, and its development has increasingly transformed into a globally shared opportunity. In 2023, China successfully held key exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the China International Consumer Products Expo and the Canton Fair, providing new opportunities for global manufacturers to enter the Chinese market. At the same time, China Customs continued to promote the access of high-quality agricultural products and food, so that Chinese consumers could enjoy more characteristic high-quality products from all over the world. China's large market has increasingly become a shared market around the world.
Three characteristics of import and export trade with countries of BRI
In October 2023, China successfully held the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. During this period, the GACC released China's Trade Index with BRI countries, which rose from 100 in 2013 to 165.4 in 2022, fully demonstrating the achievements made by China in trade with BRI countries over the past decade. In 2023, China's trade with BRI countries continued to grow and maintained a good momentum of development. It is reflected in the following three aspects:
First, trade exchanges are closer. In 2023, China's import and export with BRI countries reached RMB 19.47 trillion, up 2.8% year-on-year, accounting for 46.6% of China's total foreign trade value. The scale and proportion are at the highest level since the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Second, the customs clearance of goods is smoother. In 2023, China-Europe Railway Express operated 17,000 trains and delivered 1.9 million standard containers of goods, with a year-on-year increase of 6% and 18% respectively. The trains of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor transported 860,000 standard containers of goods, with an increase of 14%. The customs office supervised and released import and export goods of 4.218 million tons on the Laos-China Railway, with an increase of 94.9%. The Laos-China Railway's "golden corridor" effect of logistics between China and Southeast Asia is becoming increasingly apparent.
Third, mutual benefit and win-win results are deepened. Through trade cooperation, the needs of people from all countries for a better life are better met. China has imported fruits and dairy products, exported clothing, shoes and hats from countries of BRI. At the same time, it actively contributes to the development of manufacturing and infrastructure fields in countries of BRI. In 2023, by contracting foreign projects, China exported RMB 86.1 billion to countries of BRI, with an increase of nearly 30%.
Next, the Customs will promote institutional cooperation with counterpart departments of BRI countries, implement the follow-up work of signed cooperation documents for customs inspection and quarantine, deepen cooperation in port management, paperless phytosanitary certificates, supply chain connectivity and other fields, and make contributions to promoting safe and smooth trade with BRI countries and promoting stable and long-term high-quality development of BRI countries.
ASEAN has maintained its position as China's largest trading partner for four consecutive years
In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. According to Lyu Daliang, after years of efforts, the economic integration between China and ASEAN has continued to deepen and the economic and trade cooperation has been accelerating. In 2023, China's trade with ASEAN continued to grow. View specifically:
First, the two sides are each other's largest trading partners. Since 2013, China's trade with ASEAN has grown at an average annual rate of 8.8%, 3.8 percentage points higher than the overall annual growth rate of China in the same period. In 2023, bilateral trade continued to grow, with a scale of RMB 6.41 trillion. ASEAN has maintained its position as China's largest trading partner for four consecutive years, and China has also been the largest trading partner of ASEAN for many consecutive years.
Second, the industrial chain and supply chain are deeply interconnected. In 2023, China's import and export of intermediate goods with ASEAN reached RMB 4.13 trillion, and ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner of intermediate goods for many consecutive years. The cooperation between the two sides in green energy, consumer electronics and other industries has been deepening. China's exports of lithium batteries, solar cells and imported audio and video equipment parts to ASEAN have increased rapidly. At the same time, ASEAN is an important source of imports for China's agricultural and energy products. Almost all palm oil imports to China come from Indonesia and Malaysia, and Indonesia and Myanmar are the largest sources of coal and tin ore imports to China respectively.
Third, the land border passage is prosperous in both passenger and cargo transports. After the transition of COVID-19 prevention and control phases, passenger flow and logistics at land border ports have resumed in an orderly manner, and border trade has increased significantly. The average daily number of inbound and outbound passengers at Dongxing Port in Guangxi and Hekou Port in Yunnan exceeded 10,000, restoring their previous bustling scene. In April 2023, the passenger transport business of China-Laos Railway was officially launched, which facilitated the exchange of personnel along the line. By the end of the year, the customs office has supervised 114,200 people entering and leaving the country through China-Laos Railway.
Next, the customs office will implement various customs clearance facilitation measures, steadily promote the construction of smart border ports between China and Vietnam, vigorously support the high-quality development of the China-Laos Railway, actively support the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and help China-ASEAN bilateral trade achieve greater development.
Imports and exports in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are RMB 5.03 trillion
According to Lyu Daliang, the GACC has been resolutely implementing the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee on coordinated regional development, taking the support and promotion of coordinated regional development as an important breakthrough for serving high-standard opening-up and high-quality development. In 2023, 12 key measures were introduced to support the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, 15 key measures for accelerating the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and 16 measures for better supporting high-standard opening-up and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. These measures mainly focused on the development of regional characteristic industries, facilitated collaborative innovation and industrial cooperation, and effectively promoted high-standard opening-up in the region.
In 2023, the imports and exports of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region reached RMB 5.03 trillion, of which imports accounted for 20% of China's total import value, covering more than half of China's imports of grain, crude oil, natural gas and aircraft. Enterprises in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region imported two-thirds of China's total imports of automobiles. This has played an important role in expanding imports of services, ensuring domestic supply and meeting production and living needs.
The year 2023 marks the fifth anniversary of the rise of the Yangtze River Delta integration development into a national strategy. In the whole year, the import and export value of this region reached RMB 15.17 trillion, an increase of 37.3% compared with five years ago, and its proportion in China's total import and export value increased to 36.3%. The Yangtze River Delta region plays a very prominent leading role in opening up.
In 2023, the import and export value of nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area reached RMB 7.95 trillion with an increase of 0.4%, accounting for 19% of the total import and export value of China. The proportion of imports and exports of high-tech products in this region is 13.6 percentage points higher than the national average, demonstrating outstanding advantages in scientific and technological R&D and industrial innovation.
In 2023, Northeast China actively expanded and developed the BRI market, and it was the region with the fastest growth rate of exports to BRI countries. The aggregation effect of mobile phone and automobile industries in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle has appeared, and the export value of related products has reached a record high. Xiong'an New Area's import and export scale has grown steadily, with an average annual growth rate of up to 35.8% since 2020.
This year, the Customs will continue to implement various supporting measures in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference on promoting coordinated regional development, while studying and formulating new policies and measures to support the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China in the new era, further promotion of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, to promote coordinated regional development with greater efforts and better serve high-quality development and high-standard opening-up.
The import and export of cross-border e-commerce increased by 15.6%
Lyu Daliang introduced that according to preliminary estimates, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export reached RMB 2.38 trillion in 2023, up 15.6%. Specifically, exports amounted to RMB 1.83 trillion with an increase of 19.6%, while imports amounted to RMB 548.3 billion with an increase of 3.9%.
In 2023, the Customs acted according to actual circumstances of the development trend and characteristics of cross-border e-commerce, promoted the comprehensive reform of customs cross-border e-commerce supervision, carried out several reform pilots, and continuously improved the efficiency of supervision and service, which strongly supported the sustainable and healthy development of cross-border e-commerce.
First, in response to the demands of e-commerce enterprises, an online tax payment function was opened to facilitate customs clearance and further help enterprises reduce operating costs; Second, pilot import and export commodity return projects in the customs districts for cross-border e-commerce retail were carried out to continuously improve return measures and effectively solve the "worries" of enterprises and consumers; Third, the Customs continued to pay attention to overseas food safety issues and release early warning information promptly to ensure the food security of the people; Fourth, the Customs strengthened cooperation with cross-border e-commerce platform enterprises, strengthened enterprise credit cultivation, guided enterprises to operate in compliance with regulations, and promoted the high-quality and healthy development of cross-border e-commerce.
In 2024, the Customs will resolutely and conscientiously implement the spirit of the CPC Central Committee, focus on the difficulties and obstacles in the development of cross-border e-commerce, continue to deepen the comprehensive reform of cross-border e-commerce, promote intelligent supervision of cross-border e-commerce, ensure the quality safety and customs clearance convenience of import and export products, and continuously improve the efficiency of customs supervision and the sense of gain of relevant enterprises and consumers.
Intermediate goods imports and exports remain at a record high
With the further development of globalization and international division of labor, intermediate goods, as a link between upstream and downstream industries, have increasingly become the main body of global trade, accounting for more than half of global trade in goods, playing a very important role in promoting the development of global trade and ensuring the stability of global industrial chains and supply chains. China is deeply integrated into globalization, and the proportion of imports and exports of intermediate goods continues to increase. In 2023, the import and export of intermediate goods reached RMB 25.53 trillion, accounting for 61.1% of the total import and export value, maintaining a historical high.
From the perspective of export, it has played an important role in promoting industrial development in various countries around the world. Thanks to a completely matched industrial system and strong supply capacity, China's largely exported intermediate goods meet the needs of industrial development in different regions around the world. In 2023, China's import and export of intermediate goods reached RMB 11.24 trillion, accounting for 47.3% of the total import and export value. Among them, the electromechanical intermediate goods amounted to RMB 6.37 trillion with an increase of 1.9%. From the specific market, China exported auto parts to Japan and Mexico, lithium batteries to the United States and Germany, and flat panel display module intermediate goods to Vietnam and Indonesia, achieving double-digit growth. In the same period, China exported more than RMB 1 trillion of textile and plastic intermediate goods, providing impetus for the industrial development of ASEAN, Africa and other regions.
While the import provided a strong guarantee of domestic production and supply, providing a market for global enterprises. In 2023, China imported RMB 14.29 trillion of intermediate goods, accounting for 79.4% of its total import value, including RMB 4.41 trillion of electromechanical intermediate products, RMB 3.2 trillion of energy products and RMB 1.67 trillion of metallic mineral ore, These products have played a positive role in meeting domestic production needs. At the same time, China's import sources cover more than 200 countries and regions on six continents around the world. The huge market demand also provides tremendous cooperation opportunities for enterprises from various countries.
The Central Economic Work Conference regards the expansion of intermediate goods trade as a key task for China to expand its high-standard opening-up, which shows China's sense of responsibility as a major country to take steps to deepen international cooperation in the industrial chain and supply chain. Wang Lingjun said that the Customs will, following the deployment of the Central Economic Work Conference, support the import of key parts and important raw materials, ensure the stable supply of grain, energy resources and high-quality agricultural products, improve an efficient and smooth customs clearance mechanism, and create a better port business environment and more convenient cross-border trade services for expanding intermediate goods trade.
Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of this website. The Chinese version shall prevail.