A cargo vessel unloads containers at Qingdao port in Shandong, east China on March 13. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- China's gross imports and exports of goods edged up 8.7 percent year on year in the first two months of 2024, serving as an encouraging signal both at home and abroad as it pointed to gradual recovery in global trade.
In the first two months, goods exports grew 10.3 percent year on year to 3.75 trillion yuan and imports rose 6.7 percent year on year to 2.86 trillion yuan, beating previous market forecasts at much lower levels.
-- Status quo of China's foreign trade in goods
Denominated in U.S. dollars, China's goods imports and exports grew 5.5 percent year on year in the first two months and exports notched a 7.1 percent year-on-year growth, showed statistics with the General Administration of Customs.
Also trouncing foreign expectations, these data went in line with what manufacturers in China felt for export situations by themselves.
In spite of the hard year of 2023 featuring weak demand, efforts in market exploration started to bear fruits as orders increased 18 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, noted Li Jihui, general manager with Yangjiang Shibazi Group in Guangdong Province.
Currently, uncertain external demand remained the largest challenge, noted Li. But enterprises have greater determination to combat and adapt to the challenges and seize opportunities.
After years of R&D, Zhejiang Transfar Synthetic Material Stock Co., Ltd. broke foreign technological bottlenecks and developed its own rare earth catalyst-based butadiene rubber products, reaching cooperation with 22 of the global top 25 tire makers, of which 10-plus ones are contracted customers with annual orders.
Xu Guanju, board chairman of Transfar Group said the the company exports products of diverse types, including rubber products whose exports increased notably and already made up 40 percent of its total production capacity. Under such circumstances, the company did not suspend production of rubber products even during the Spring Festival holiday in an effort to meet client demand.
Strengthening sci-tech innovation and climbing towards the mid- and high-end of global industrial chains are the root solution to cope with changes in external market, noted Xu.
In the first two months of this year, imports and exports of goods by private enterprises surged 17.7 percent year on year and accounted for 54.6 percent of the comparable total, up 4.2 percentage points than the comparable data in the same period of 2023.
-- Normal trade flows in progress
China has been deeply involved in the global value chains and interaction between China and the external markets is unstoppable.
As a typical example of Chinese enterprises' "going global", Guangzhou Automobile Group opted for investing in and building overseas factories in Nigeria, Malaysia and Thailand as export and localized overseas production would represent important growth engines for China's automobile industry in the future, said Feng Xingya, the company general manager.
For industries with thorough competition worldwide, it is impossible for companies to survive and develop in reliance on a single market and enhancing overseas deployment is needed so as to improve competitiveness in global market, according to Feng.
But establishing factories overseas did not necessarily mean decreases in exports, held Feng.
In the first two months, China's exports to the ASEAN, the EU and the U.S. maintained growths, up 9.2 percent, 1.6 percent and 8.1 percent respectively and exports to the Belt and Road partner countries rose 13.5 percent year on year.
Although global industrial chains and supply chains are changing all the time, China has obtained a firm foothold by maintaining about 14 percent share of exports in global market and imports and exports of intermediate goods accounted for 61.1 percent of the total, hinting relatively strong resilience.
For Newcomer Group based in Pinghu City of Zhejiang Province, orders already placed in the past months of this year have been arranged to fulfill in June, with domestic orders growing at a rapid pace, said Xu Hongshui, director of operations of the company.
Prizing both the domestic and foreign markets and strengthening brand cultivation and innovation reflect clearly the efforts being made by Chinese manufacturers now to speed up industrial transformation and upgrading to keep abreast with market changes.
(Edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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