SteelOrbis Shanghai
According to the statistics released by China's General Administration of Customs, China's trading volume for the first seven months of the current year totaled $1.48211 trillion, up 26.4 percent year on year. Over the same period of time, Chinese exports totaled $802.91 billion, up 22.6 percent. This growth rate is six percentage points lower compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, imports totaled $679.2 billion, up 31.1 percent, indicating an increase in growth rate of 11.6 percentage points year on year. The total trade surplus for the period in question has reached $123.72 billion, down $13.1 billion or 9.6 percent year on year.
China's total trade volume in July amounted to $248.07 billion, up 29.8 percent over the same period last year. Exports in July increased 26.9 percent to $136.68 billion, while imports rose 33.7 percent year on year to $111.4 billion.
The continuous shrinkage of the trade surplus is also due to the soaring average prices of primary product imports. The figures show that China's imports of primary products shot up 70.6 percent to $221.65 billion for the first seven months this year, representing 32.6 percent of total imports in the same period. Specifically, during the period in question the average price of coal imports jumped by 51.9 percent, while the average price of soya bean imports was up by 78 percent.
From January to July, the European Union (EU) continued to be China's biggest trading partner, with the trading value between the two sides totaling $243.14 billion, up 27.9 percent year on year. Exports to the EU rose 27.1 percent to $165.04 billion, while imports grew 29.8 percent to $78.1 billion, generating a trade surplus of $86.94 billion, up 24.9 percent. The surplus growth was 29 percentage points lower compared with the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the trading volume between China and the US, China's second largest partner, rose 13.2 percent in the January-July period to $189.11 billion, a decrease of 4.3 percentage points over the same period last year. Exports to the US rose 9.9 percent to $140.39 billion, while imports grew 23.8 percent to $48.72 billion, representing a trade surplus of $91.67 billion, up 3.8 percent year on year. The surplus growth was 15 percentage points lower compared with the same period last year.
Japan remained China's third largest trade partner, with bilateral trade jumping 19.2 percent to $154.93 billion. In the first seven months of this year, exports to Japan rose 15.9 percent to $65.48 billion, while imports grew 21.6 percent to $89.45 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $23.98 billion, an increase of $7 billion year on year.
In addition, bilateral trade between China and India, which is ranked as China's eighth largest trade partner, amounted to $33.52 billion, up 63.8 percent, constituting the fastest growth rate among China's top ten trade partners.