General Administration of Customs: In the first half of the year, China's foreign trade import and export increased by 2.1% year-on-year

The State Council Information Office held a press conference at local time 10:00 this morning. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs introduced that China's foreign trade import and export increased by 2.1% year-on-year in the first half of the year, hitting a record. The quality of foreign trade import and export was stable and improved, in line with expectations.According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, the total import and export value of goods trade in China was 20.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, of which exports were 11.46 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%, and imports were 8.64 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.1%.In the first half of the year, China's foreign trade import and export exceeded 20 trillion yuan for the first time, of which the first quarter and the second quarter reached 9.76 trillion yuan and 10.34 trillion yuan respectively, achieving positive growth year-on-year. The import and export in Q2 increased by 6% from Q1, and the import and export in June increased by 1.2% from May.China's foreign trade structure continued to optimize, and the import and export of general trade was 13.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%. The import and export of private enterprises increased by 8.9%, accounting for 52.7% of the total import and export value. The total export of three new products including electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar batteries increased by 61.6%, driving the overall export growth by 1.8 percentage points.During the same period, China's import and export to ASEAN, the largest trading partner, was 3.08 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, accounting for 15.3% of the total import and export value. The import and export to the EU was 2.75 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%. China's imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" increased by 9.8% year-on-year, 7.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, accounting for 34.3% of the total import and export value. Imports and exports to other RCEP members increased by 1.5% year-on-year.