In the first 10 months, imports and exports exceeded 30 trillion yuan, and the trade surplus reached a new high

Securities Times reporter Jiang Tan

On November 7, the General Administration of Customs released data showing that in the first 10 months of this year, China's total import and export value was 31.67 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.2% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 17.49 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.5% year-on-year; imports were 14.18 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.8% year-on-year; and the trade surplus was 3.31 trillion yuan, an increase of 25.5% year-on-year.

Specifically, from January to October, China exported 10.3 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 22.4% year-on-year, accounting for 58.9% of the total export value. Among them, automatic data processing equipment and its parts and components were 1.31 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.1% year-on-year; mobile phones were 716.58 billion yuan, an increase of 13.3% year-on-year; automobiles (including chassis) were 179.87 billion yuan, an increase of 111.1% year-on-year. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Committee, said that under the epidemic, due to the problems of overseas supply chains, China's automobile exports have risen strongly, reflecting the significant improvement of the world competitiveness of China's automobile industry.

In terms of imports, the import volume of iron ore, crude oil, soybeans and other commodities has been reduced and the price of coal and natural gas has risen. According to statistics, in the first 10 months, the average import price of iron ore, steel, crude oil, refined oil, soybeans, coal, natural gas, etc. rose by 61%, 46.4%, 35.6%, 33.8%, 30.2%, 27.1% and 11.2% respectively. The rise in international commodity prices has become an important factor affecting imports.

From a single month point of view, in October, China's total import and export value of 3.34 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.8% year-on-year, down 5.6% month-on-month. Among them, exports were 1.94 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.3% year-on-year and 2.1% month-on-month; imports were 1.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.5% year-on-year and 10% month-on-month; and the trade surplus was 545.95 billion yuan, an increase of 38.4% year-on-year. Compared with market expectations, exports performed better. In addition, the total value of imports and exports in October decreased month-on-month, of which imports fell by 10% month-on-month. Zheng Houcheng, director of the Yingda Securities Research Institute, told the Securities Times reporter that this is mainly dragged down by the decline in the import of high-tech products and mechanical and electrical products. Zheng Houcheng said the trade surplus recorded $84.54 billion in October, the highest since data were recorded in August 1994.