Data Watch on China’s Foreign Trade and Investment in the First Seven Months of 2011

China’s foreign trade in the first seven months of 2011

According to statistics of the Customs， China’s exports and imports in the first seven months of the year surpassed US$2 trillion for the first time to reach US$2.02 trillion， up 25.1% over the same period last year. Specifically， exports surpassed US$1 trillion for the first time to reach US$1.05 trillion， up 23.4% year on year; imports US$973.17 billion， up 26.9%. The trade surplus stood at US$76.21 billion， down 8.7%.

In July alone， China’s imports and exports registered US$318.77 billion， up 21.5% from the same period of last year. Specifically， exports reached US$175.13 billion， up by 20.4% year on year; imports US$143.64 billion， up 22.9%. July 2011 saw a surplus of US$31.48 billon， an increase of 10.3% year on year.

China’s foreign trade in the first seven months of 2011 has the following features.

Growth rate of import and export prices fell， while that of the total trade volume climbed. Price of bulk commodity imports rose sharply from January to July， due to the impacts of global excess liquidity， instability in the Middle East and the North Africa， Japan earthquakes and other factors. Average prices of natural rubber， edible vegetable oil， iron ore， crude oil， refined oil and soybean imports increased 66.1%， 40.1%， 39.1%， 35.1%， 32.6% and 31.2% respectively. However， the increase rate of the price fell consecutively in the past several months. The average exports price in July increased 9.2%， 1.2 percentage points lower than June; import price rose 14.7%， with its growth rate falling for three consecutive months. The increase rates of exports and imports in July were 2.5 and 3.6 percentage points higher than in the previous month.

General trade saw continuous rapid growth， while the proportion of processing trade declined. Exports under general trade grew 26.8% in July， the fifth consecutive month it grew faster than the total trade volume. Imports under general trade grew 29.6% in July， the twelfth month it grew faster than the total trade volume. Exports under processing trade increased 13%， imports 10.4%， with their proportions in the total exports and imports 2.8 and 3.1 percentage points lower respectively than the same period of last year. Exports under other forms of trade rose 24.9%， imports 24.1%. From January to July， general trade amounted to US$1.06536 trillion， an increase of 31.2%. Processing trade registered US$730.83 billion， an increase of 16.1%. It accounted for 36.1% of China’s total trade volume， 2.8 percentage points lower than the same period of last year.

Imports and exports by private enterprises grew faster than the total trade; exports by foreign-funded enterprises and state-owned enterprises continued to slow down. In July， exports by private enterprise increased 35%， imports 41%， 14.6 and 18.1 percentage points higher respectively than the growth rates of total exports and imports. Exports by foreign-funded enterprises increased 13.8%， 0.6 percentage points down from the previous month; imports grew 15.6%. Exports by state-owned enterprises climbed 14.8%， 5.6 percentage points lower than that of total exports; imports climbed 25.3%， 2.4 percentage points higher than that of total imports. From January to July， imports and exports by foreign-invested enterprises were valued at US$1.03612 trillion， an increase of 19.3% and accounting for 51.2% of China’s total trade volume. Imports and exports by state-owned enterprises and other types of enterprises accounted for 21.4% and 27.4% of the nation’s total respectively.

Growth of exports to the United States continued to be sluggish; imports from some emerging markets increased rapidly. China’s exports to the United States grew 9.7% in July， the third consecutive month it saw singledigit growth. Exports to the European Union， Japan and ASEAN increased 22.2%， 27.2% and 24.1% respectively， 1.8， 6.8 and 3.7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the total exports respectively. Imports from such emerging markets as Russia， South Africa and Brazil rose 37.4%， 60.8% and 47% respectively， 14.5， 37.9 and 24.1 percentage points higher than the total import volume respectively.

Significant increases were reported in the value of international service-outsourcing contracts China signed and the volume of software it exported. From January to July， China signed 55，095 service outsourcing contracts， with a total contract value of US$20.25 billion， an increase of 70.2% over the same period of last year. US$15.18 billion worth of contracts were performed， an increase of 83.5%. Specifically， China signed US$15.11 billion worth of international service outsourcing contracts， an increase of 71.2%. US$11.05 billion worth of the contracts were performed， an increase of 80.7%. Besides， China signed 23，773 contracts on software export， with a total worth

of US$8.56 billion， an increase of 47.6%. US$6.81 billion worth of the contracts were performed， an increase of 63.4%

Utilization of foreign investment

From January to July， China approved the establishment of over 15，600 new foreign-invested enterprises， an increase of 7.89% year on year. Paid-in foreign capital was valued at US$69.187 billion， up 18.57% year on year. In July alone， paid-in foreign capital amounted to US$8.297 billion， up 19.83% from the previous year.

Paid-in foreign investment in the service sector rose faster than in agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， fishery and manufacturing sectors.

From January to July， 418 new foreign-funded enterprises in the industries of agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， and fisheries were established， down 5.22% year on year and accounting for 2.68 of the country’s total; such sectors made an actual use of US$1.154 billion foreign investment， an increase of 13.54% year on year and accounting for 1.67% of the country’s total. 6，649 new foreign-funded enterprises in the manufacturing industry were stet up， up 13.39% from a year ago and accounting for 42.62% of the country’s total; the manufacturing industry made an actual use of US$32.174 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 15% over the same period of last year and accounting for 46.5% of the country’s total. 7，664 new foreign-funded enterprises in the service sector were set up， an increase of 4.79% from a year ago and accounting for 49.13% of the nation’s total; the service sector made an actual use of US$31.798 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 20.84% year on year and accounting for 45.96% of the country’s total.

Investment from Asia increased while that from the U.S. declined. From January to July， 12，555 new enterprises were established funded by investments from ten Asian nations or regions (Hong Kong， Macao， Taiwan， Japan， Philippines， Thailand， Malaysia， Singapore， Indonesia， and South Korea)， an increase of 8.79% from a year ago. Paid-in capital from these nations was valued at US$59.537 billion， an increase of 23.67% year on year. 844 companies funded by investments from the United States were established， down 4.74% over the same period of last year. Paid-in capital from the United States amounted to US$1.94 billion， down 19.17% from a year ago. 976 new companies were set up funded by investments from 27 EU nations， 7.14% higher than a year ago. Paid-in capital from these nations amounted to US$4.084 billion， an increase of 1.36% from the previous year.

Actual use of foreign investment in central and western China continued to grow faster than in the eastern part of the country. From January to July， 13，321 new foreignfunded enterprises were set up in the eastern regions， an increase of 9.62% year on year and accounting for 85.39% of the country’s total. The eastern regions made an actual use of US$59.026 billion in foreign investment， accounting for 85.31% of the country’s total and an increase of 16.67% from a year ago， 1.9 percentage points lower than the nation’s average. 1，533 new foreignfunded enterprises were set up in the central regions， a decline of 2.04% year on year and accounting for 9.83% of the country’s total. The central regions made an actual use of US$5.003 billion， accounting for 7.23% of the country’s total and up 29.36% from a year ago， 10.79 percentage points higher than the nation’s average. 746 new foreignfunded enterprises were set up in the western regions， an increase of 0.54% year on year and accounting for 4.78% of the country’s total. The western regions made an actual use of US$5.159 billion in foreign investment， accounting for 7.68% of the country’s total and an increase of 32.48% from a year ago， 13.91 percentage points higher than the nation’s average.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

The growth of China’s outbound FDI slowed down. From January to July， China’s domestic investors invested directly in a total of 2，169 overseas enterprises in 117 nations and regions， with a total of non-financial outbound FDI of US$27.63 billion， an increase of 3.3% year on year. US$9.2 billion direct investment was made by way of merger， accounting for 33.3% of the total investment in the period. Chinese investment surged greatly in Australia and Hong Kong， but declined in the ASEAN， EU， the United States， Russia， Japan and other nations. Chinese direct investment in Hong Kong registered US$ 16.89 billion， an increase of 23.9% year on year; in Australia， US$1.68 billion， an increase of 102.5%.

Rapid growth was reported with regard to overseas-contracted projects. From January to July， China’s overseas-contracted projects reported a turnover of US$51.38 billion， an increase of 20.4% year on year. US$75.77 billion worth of new contracts were signed， up 25.2% year on year. In July alone， the turnover was US$8.87 billion， up 42.6%; US$10.12 billion worth of new contracts were signed， 41.5% higher than the same period of last year.

Of all the newly signed project contracts， 262 (225 in the same period of last year) projects were of a contract value of over US$50 million， with a total contract value of US$59.79 billion， 78.9% of the total value of all the newly signed contracts.

The top ten nations in terms of the value of newly signed contracts are India， Hong Kong， Saudi Arabia， Angola， Laos， Pakistan， Nigeria， Kazakhstan， Malaysia and Algeria， with a total contract value of US$32.8 billion， representing 43.3% of the total value of the newly signed contracts.

Foreign labor service cooperation went from strength to strength. From January to July， the number of all kinds of labor sent abroad was 242，000， an increase of 20，000 year on year. By the end of July， there were a total of 787，000 Chinese labor service personnel working overseas， a decline of 25，000 from a year ago. The major destinations of Chinese labor exports were Japan， Singapore， Angola， Macao， Algeria， Hong Kong， Saudi Arabia， Indonesia， Mongolia， Russia， etc. By the end of July， China had sent abroad 5.67 million labor service personnel of all types on an accumulative basis.

(Source: Press conference of the Ministry of Commerce of China on August 24)