China's total imports and exports of goods expanded 5.7 percent year on year to 13.81 trillion yuan (more than 1.91 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of this year, hitting a record high, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Thursday.
The country's exports rose 4.9 percent year on year to 7.81 trillion yuan (about 1.08 trillion U.S. dollars) in the January-April period, while imports climbed 6.8 percent to 6 trillion yuan (more than 830 billion U.S. dollars), official data showed.
In April, imports and exports totaled 3.64 trillion yuan (about 503.8 billion U.S. dollars), up 8 percent year on year, according to the data.
"The growth rate in the first four months accelerated from that in the first quarter of this year and also outpaced the growth rate in the same period last year, with the scale of foreign trade reaching a record high, fortifying the upbeat trend of China's foreign trade," said Lyu Daliang, director of the Statistical Analysis Department of the GAC.
In terms of trading partners, in the first four months, China's imports and exports with Belt and Road countries logged 6.54 trillion yuan (about 905.2 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 6.4 percent, accounting for 47.4 percent of the total import and export value.
Among them, imports and exports with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached 2.18 trillion yuan (about 301.7 billion U.S. dollars), a rise of 8.5 percent year on year.
During the same period, imports and exports with the European Union, the United States, South Korea and Japan registered 1.75 trillion yuan (about 242.2 billion U.S. dollars), 1.47 trillion yuan (about 203.5 billion U.S. dollars), 728.7 billion yuan (about 100.8 billion U.S. dollars) and 703.05 billion yuan (more than 93.7 billion U.S. dollars), respectively, accounting for 33.7 percent of the total.
In addition, trade with emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa and Central Asia grew faster, going up 11.7 percent, 7.7 percent and 17.9 percent year on year respectively.
In terms of business entities, in the first four months, the number of foreign trade entities with actual import and export performances grew 8.6 percent year on year.
Among them, the number of private enterprises rose 10.1 percent with their import and export value increasing by 10.7 percent, accounting for 54.6 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, rising 2.5 percentage points over the same period last year.
The number of foreign-invested enterprises grew 1.2 percent.
In terms of regions, from January to April, imports and exports of China's western region stood at 1.25 trillion yuan (about 173 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 8.9 percent.
And foreign trade in the eastern region reached 11.07 trillion yuan (more than 1.53 trillion U.S. dollars), up 7.2 percent year on year.
During the same period, imports and exports of the central and northeast regions reached 1.07 trillion yuan (more than 148 billion U.S. dollars) and 412.94 billion yuan (more than 57.15 billion U.S. dollars) respectively.
China's foreign trade rises 5.7 pct in first four months
China's foreign trade rises 5.7 pct in first four months
