SteelOrbis Shanghai
According to the statistics released by the Chinese customs authorities on July 10, China's trading volume for the first six months of the current year totaled $1.23417 trillion, up 25.7 percent year on year. Over the same period of time, Chinese exports totaled $666.6 billion, up 21.9 percent. This growth rate is 5.7 percentage points lower compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, imports totaled 567.57 billion, up 30.6 percent. The total trade surplus for the period in question has reached $99.03 billion, down $13.21 billion or 11.8 percent year on year.
Exports in June alone rose 17.6 percent year on year to $121.53 billion. This growth rate is 10.5 percentage points lower than the figure for May. Meanwhile, imports in June jumped up 31 percent to $100.18 billion, thus resulting in a trade surplus of $21.35 billion, down 20.6 percent compared with the corresponding period last year.
In the first six months of this year, China recorded an obvious acceleration in imports of primary products, with the average import price soaring dramatically for major products. The country's imports of primary products for H1 totaled $184 billion, up 69.9 percent year on year. In the same period, China's iron ore imports reached 230 million mt, up 22.5 percent, with the average import price up 77.4 percent to $132.6/mt. Meanwhile, imports of crude oil totaled 90.53 million mt, up 11 percent, with the average price rising 67.3 percent to $717.7/mt. Finally, imports of refined oil were up 16.4 percent to 21.01 million mt, with the average price reaching $758.9/mt, up 77.3 percent year on year.