In the first quarter of 2023, the total value of my country's import and export of goods was 9.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%

Recently, the State Council Information Office held a press conference. Lu Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, introduced my country's import and export situation in the first quarter of 2023 and answered related questions.

According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, the total value of my country's import and export of goods was 9.89 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. Among them, exports were 5.65 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, and imports were 4.24 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%.

Regarding the highlights and changes in the foreign trade data in the first quarter, as well as the expected trend of foreign trade in the second quarter, Lv Daliang said: "For the first quarter's foreign trade imports and exports, our view is 'a steady start and improvement month by month'."

It is specifically reflected in the following three aspects:

First, the overall foreign trade situation is stable and improving.

Since the beginning of this year, my country's economic operation has shown a trend of stabilization and recovery, with production and demand gradually improving, driving a significant stabilization of foreign trade imports and exports. Since mid-to-late February, imports and exports have maintained positive growth year-on-year, driving the overall growth rate from a slight decline in the previous two months to growth.

This is also confirmed by the customs' business data. In March, my country's export container load increased by 10.5% year-on-year, and import freight volume increased by 20.3%.

Second, business entities have made steady progress.

At present, my country's foreign trade imports and exports are improving month by month, which is a reflection of the fact that the majority of foreign trade enterprises are giving full play to their vitality, taking the initiative, actively grabbing orders and expanding markets.

In the first quarter, the number of foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance increased by 5.91% year-on-year. In other words, compared with the first quarter of last year, there were 25,000 more enterprises engaged in import and export business, and the foreign trade enthusiasm has steadily increased.

Among them, the import and export growth rate of private enterprises, which are larger in number and more flexible, is higher than the overall, and their scale accounts for more than half of the total import and export value, playing a positive role in stabilizing the scale and optimizing the structure of foreign trade.

Third, new momentum is being consolidated steadily.

Faced with the current challenge of weakening external demand, my country's foreign trade has risen to the challenge, and new advantages in foreign trade competition and new growth momentum have been continuously cultivated and strengthened, playing a more positive role in the overall stability and improvement of foreign trade.

In the first quarter, my country's imports and exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America and Africa increased by 16.1%, 11.7% and 14.1% respectively.

The performance of my country's new advantageous products is also very impressive. In the first quarter, the total export of the "new three" products, electric passenger cars, lithium batteries, and solar cells, increased by 66.9%, with a year-on-year increase of more than 100 billion yuan, which increased the overall export growth rate by 2 percentage points and further enhanced the driving force.

Regarding the future trend of foreign trade, Lv Daliang believes that the current external environment remains severe and complex, global trade development is still affected by multiple factors, and trade prospects are still under pressure. In particular, factors such as sluggish external demand and geopolitics will bring greater challenges to my country's foreign trade development.

"But we must also see that my country's economy is resilient, has great potential and is full of vitality, and its long-term positive fundamentals remain unchanged. I believe that as my country's economic operation continues to improve overall, the positive momentum of foreign trade is expected to continue further," said Lu Daliang.

In addition, regarding how the customs implements relevant foreign trade policies to help companies stabilize orders and promote markets, Lu Daliang said that at the beginning of this year, the customs, based on the demands of companies, further optimized and upgraded the relevant measures that have been implemented and will continue to be effective this year, and continued to release the dividends of relevant policies and measures.

Recently, the State Council executive meeting studied the policy measures to promote the stabilization of foreign trade scale and optimization of structure. Customs will continue to help enterprises stabilize orders, expand markets, and further improve the level of trade facilitation in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. At the same time, combined with the development of foreign trade situation and enterprise needs, in-depth investigation and research will be carried out to help enterprises more accurately and better help foreign trade to stabilize and improve quality.