Hai Tong

China's imports and exports totaled US$1,146.71 billion in the first seven months of this year, dropping 22.7% year on year, according to statistics from the customs. Of this, the exports amounted to US$627.1 billion, down 22%; and the imports, US$519.61 billion, down 23.6%, presenting a trade surplus of US$107.49 billion, falling 12.4% from the same period last year.

In July, the country's import and export reached US$200.21 billion, dropping 19.4% year on year, but rising 9.6% over the previous month. Of this, the export was for the first time exceeding US$100 billion this year to reach US$105.42 billion, down 23% year on year, but up 10.4% month on month; and the import amounted to US$94.79 billion, down 14.9% year on year, but up 8.7% month on month, with the trade surplus of US$10.63 billion, down 57.9% year on year.

Going through the seasonal adjustment, July's year on year growth remained unchanged, but the month on month growth of import and export, export and import was respectively at 4.4%, 5.2% and 3.5%.

Following are the main features of China's foreign trade in January-July:

1. The import and export achieved increases for five successive months after reaching the bottom in February. China's imports and exports experienced swift decline for five months running since October of 2008. The import and export began rebound in March and have lasted for five months in a row with the monthly growth standing at 23.5% in March, 7.6% in April, 2.1% in May, 3.4% in June and 4.4% in July as compared with the previous month. The month on month growth of export stood at 31.8%, 2.4%, 0.2%, 4.5% and 5.2% in the five months, and that of import was 14.4%, 14.3%, 4.4%, 2.2% and 3.5%, respectively. The month by month growing trend has basically established.

2. Import and export in general trade presented better performance than the overall trade, and the surplus under the general trade dropped a lot. China's import and export in general trade reached US$561.93 billion, down 22.2% year on year, 0.5 percentage points smaller than the decline of the overall imports and exports of the country, and accounting for 49% of the country's total import and export. Of this, export in general trade was US$282.15 billion, down 24.3% year on year, and accounting for 45% of the total exports of the country, and import was US$279.78 billion, down 19.9%, and accounting for 53.8% of the country's total, presenting a trade surplus under general trade account of US$2.37 billion, down 89.9% year on year.

3. The proportion of the import and export under processing trade in the country's total dropped. China's import and export in processing trade reached US$462.36 billion, down 23.8% year on year, and accounting for 40.3% of the total import and export of the country, down 0.6 percentage points from the same period last year. Of this, the export was US$300.99 billion, down 21.5% year on year, taking up 48% of the total export of the country, the import, US$161.38 billion, down 27.8% year on year, 31.1% of the total import of the country. The trade surplus under processing trade amounted to US$139.61 billion, down 12.7% year on year.

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