2024:the volume, growth rate, and quality of goods trade imports and exports all improved.

Looking back at the year 2024, the world economic recovery is difficult and global trade development faces many challenges. As the largest country in terms of goods trade, China'sforeign trade performance has attracted widespread attention from the international community.

On January 13, China's foreign trade report card was released: in 2024, the total value of goods trade imports and exports was 43.85 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%, achieving a simultaneous increase in the total volume, volume and quality; there were nearly 700,000 foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance, setting a newrecord; cross-border e-commerce imports and exports were 2.63 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.8%.

A series of dynamic data show the new breakthrough of China's foreign trade in two trillion-level steps, the new momentum of the vigorous development of green trade and digital trade, and the new changes in the increase of export and import trading partners... This hard-won report card is a vivid footnote to the high-quality development of China's economyand it also adds confidence and motivation to the recovery and development of global trade.

Achieving the goal of quality improvement and quantity stability

What are the highlights behind China's new high foreign trade? At the series of press conferences on "China's high-quality economic development achievements" held by the StateCouncil Information Office on January 13, Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, said that in 2024, my country's foreign trade will have bothreasonable growth in quantity and effective improvement in quality, achieving the goal of quality improvement and quantity stability.

In terms of quantity, the total value of imports and exports in 2024 will reach 43.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 5%. This scale has increased by 11.63 trillion yuan compared with 2020,and this increase is 1.5 times the increase in the five years during the "13th Five-Year Plan". The latest data from the World Trade Organization shows that in the first three quarters of2024, my country's exports and imports accounted for 14.5% and 10.5% of the international market share, respectively, an increase of 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points year-on-year.

In terms of quality, China's foreign trade presents four characteristics-

Better structure. The structure of my country's export products has been continuously optimized and upgraded. Last year, the export of mechanical and electrical products increased by8.7%, and the proportion of total exports increased by 0.9 percentage points to 59.4%, of which the export of high-end equipment increased by more than 40%. Imported productscontinued to be effectively supplied in a diversified manner, with imports of mechanical and electrical products increasing by 7.3% and imports of bulk commodities increasing by 5%.

More "new" meaning. In 2024, new products, new formats and new brands continued to emerge in my country, and the amount of "new" in foreign trade continued to increase.More new products with high-tech attributes accelerated their export, and the exports of electric vehicles, 3D printers and industrial robots increased by 13.1%, 32.8% and 45.2respectively. The import and export of new formats of cross-border e-commerce reached 2.63 trillion yuan in the whole year, 1 trillion yuan more than in 2020. The proportion of independent brands in my country's exports increased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year to 21.8%, and domestic fashion brands have swept the world with a "Chinese style".

Stronger entities. In 2024, there will be nearly 700,000 business entities with import and export performance in my country, setting a new record. By the end of 2024, the number of "certified economic operators" (AEO) enterprises in my country will reach 6,338, an increase of 612 from the end of 2023.

More partners. In 2024, my country will have import and export records with almost all countries and regions in the United Nations statistical grouping, with one and four more exportand import partners than in 2023, respectively, and import and export growth with more than 160 partners.

Imports and exports in all regions have increased

How did imports and exports perform in various regions across the country in the past year? Lv Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, introduced that in 2024, the eastern, central and western regions and the northeastern regions complemented each other's strengths and showed their strengths, and all imports and exports grew.

The eastern region continued to play the role of "ballast stone". The annual import and export volume was 34.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4%, accounting for 79.7% of my country's total import and export value. It imported more than 85% of the country's crude oil and consumer goods, and exported more than 80% of labor-intensive products, household appliances and lithium batteries. The integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area continues to accelerate, and the import and export of the nine cities in the Bay Area increased by 10.1%, driving the national import and export growth by 1.9 percentage points. Ship exports in the eastern region increased by 60.8%, and exports of offshore drilling platforms increased by 1.2 times, both accounting for more than 90% of the country.

The import and export volume of the central and western regions will reach 7.65 trillion yuan in 2024, an increase of 4%. In the process of actively and orderly undertaking industrial transfer, the country continues to realize open development, and the proportion of processing trade in the total value of imports and exports has reached 25.5%, 7.4 percentage pointshigher than the national average. More international elements have entered the inland hinterland. New Zealand's tripe, Vietnamese croaker, etc., have been transported through the cold chain of the Western Land-Sea Corridor and have been put on the hot pot menu; Thai durian, Laotian bananas, etc. have entered the country through the China-Laos Railway, enriching everyone's fruit choices.

The scale of imports and exports in the Northeast has set a new high for four consecutive years, reaching 1.25 trillion yuan in 2024. Among them, exports increased by 8.1%, 1 percentage point faster than the national exports. The industrial advantages of the old industrial base in the Northeast with strong production and research and development capabilities have been further exerted, with exports of engineering machinery increasing by 10.5% and exports of electrical control devices increasing by 9%. The ice and snow economic industry in Northeast China continues to develop, and the exports of ski boots and skis to Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have doubled, adding new highlights to my country's foreign trade.

The "circle of friends" in foreign trade is getting bigger and bigger

At present, China has become the main trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions, and the "circle of friends" in foreign trade is getting bigger and bigger. Wang Lingjun said that in 2024, my country's foreign trade will have outstanding performance both for new friends and old partners.

The proportion of imports and exports to countries participating in the construction of the "Belt and Road" exceeded 50% for the first time. Last year, my country's imports and exports to countries participating in the construction of the "Belt and Road" increased by 6.4%, accounting for 50.3% of my country's total imports and exports, of which exports and importsincreased by 9.6% and 2.7% respectively. In 2024, the cumulative number of China-Europe trains will exceed 100,000.

Most of the trade volume comes from emerging markets such as ASEAN. Imports and exports to ASEAN have maintained growth for 9 consecutive years, and they have been each other's largest trading partners for 5 consecutive years; the BRICS cooperation mechanism has continued to grow and develop, and my country's imports and exports to other BRICmember countries and partner countries have increased by 5.5%; in addition, my country has continued to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Latin America, Africa, the five Central Asian countries, and Central and Eastern Europe, with imports and exports to them increasing by 7.2%, 6.1%, 7.2%, and 7.5% respectively. The above-mentioned markets contribute nearly 60% to my country's foreign trade growth, becoming an important force in promoting my country's foreign trade growth.

The growth momentum has also been maintained in traditional markets such as the EU and the United States. The EU is my country's largest source of imports of consumer goods and the largest export market for my country's electromechanical products. The two sides have close economic and trade ties, which have continuously tightened the ties of the China-EU community of interests. In 2024, bilateral trade increased by 1.6%, including 2%, 4.5%, and 12.9% with France, Spain, and Hungary, respectively. During the same period, China-US trade increased by 4.9%, which was basically the same as the overall growth rate of my country's trade.

Wang Lingjun said that the current external environment is more complex and foreign trade is facing severe challenges in maintaining stable growth, but the fundamentals of my country's stable economic foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience and great potential have not changed, and the supporting factors for promoting high-quality development of foreign trade remain solid. "In the next step, the customs will continue to improve supervision efficiency and service level, and continue to promote the steady and

long-term development of my country's foreign trade."