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

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

According to statistics of the Customs， China’s exports and imports in the first eleven months of the year reached $3.30962 trillion， up 23.6% over the same period last year. Specifically， exports stood at$1.72401 trillion， up 21.1% year on year; imports $1.58561 billion， up 26.9%. The first eleven months of the year saw a trade deficit of $138.4 billion， a decline of 18.2% from the previous year.

In November alone， China’s foreign trade value registered $334.4 billion， an increase of 17.6% over the previous year， 4 percentage points lower than that of October. In detail， exports reached $174.46 billion， a year-on-year increase of 13.8%， 2.1 percentage points lower than October; imports reached $159.94 billion， a year-on-year increase of 22.1%， 6.6 percentage points lower than October.

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

The general trade saw rapid growth， while the proportion of the processing trade saw significant decline.

In November， exports and imports of the general trade increased 22.1% and 26.7% respectively， marking the ninth consecutive month the exports of general trade increased faster than the total trade， and the 16th consecutive month the imports of the general trade increased faster than the total trade. From January to November in 2011， exports and imports of the general trade increased 7.4 percentage points and 6.7 percentage points faster respectively than the exports and imports of the total trade. In November， exports and imports of the processing trade increased 5.2% and 10.7% respectively. The proportion of exports of the processing trade in the total exports volume declined 3.6 percentage points and that of the imports declined 2.8 percentage points.

Trade volume of private corporations increased faster than the total trade， and the increase of trade value of foreign-funded enterprises continued to slow down.

In November， exports of private corporations increased 28% and imports increased 38.6%， 14.2 and 16.5 percentage points higher respectively than the total exports and imports. From January to November， exports of private enterprises increased 33.3% and imports increased 46.3%， 22.2 and 19.9 percentage points higher respectively than the total exports and imports. In November， exports of foreign-invested enterprises increased 7.9% and imports increased 13.9%， 7.8 and 4.8 percentage points lower respectively than October.

Increase in the exports of mechanical， electrical and high-tech products slowed down significantly， while the exports of some labor-intensive products saw greater increase.

In November， the exports of mechanical electrical products and hightech products increased 10.3% and 2% respectively， 7.3 and 11.5 percentage points lower than October. From January to November， the increase rate of the exports of mechanical electrical products was 17.5 percentage points lower than the same period of last year. In November， the exports of shoes， bags， furniture and plastic products increased 2.9%， 13.4%， 6.3%， and 38.1% respectively， 0.3， 11， 7 and 16.2 percentage points higher respectively than October.

Weak increase in exports to the EU， and rapid growth in trade with emerging markets.

In November， China’s exports to the European Union increased 4.9% year on year， 8.8 percentage points lower than the increase rate of the nation’s total exports. From January to November， China’s exports to the EU increased 15.1%， 6 percentage points lower than the increase rate of the nation’s total exports. In November， China’s exports to the United States， ASEAN nations， and Japan increased 16.9%， 21.3%， and 17.7% respectively over the previous year. China’s trade with emerging markets and developing nations maintained fast growth. Its trade with Russia， Brazil and South Africa increased by 44%， 36.7% and 82.5% respectively.

Exports of some coastal provinces and cities slowed down， while that of the western regions increased rapidly.

In November， exports of the eastern regions increased 9.5%， 5.4 percentage points lower than the nation’s average level. Exports of the central and western regions increased 39.6% and 60.1% respectively. Noticeably， exports of Chongqing， Henan and Jiangxi increased 3， 1.3 and 1.2 times respectively. Imports of central and western regions increased 35.1% and 28.6% respectively， among which Xizang and Heilongjiang provinces witnessed 3- and 1.2-fold increases respectively.

Utilization of foreign investment vember alone， China approved the establishment of 2，718 new foreign-funded corporations， a decline of 12.91%. Paid-in foreign capital amounted to$8.757billion， down 9.76% from the previous year.

The service industry continued to see the fastest increase in utilization of foreign capital.

From January to November， the service industry made an actual use of$48.768 billion， an increase of 18.54% year on year. Among the service industry， such sectors as radio， film and television， social welfare， tourism， pipeline transportation， aviation， urban public transportation saw the fastest increases in the utilization of foreign capital. The sectors of agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， and fisheries made an actual use of $1.705 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 1.14% year on year. The manufacturing industry made an actual use of US$47.315 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 7.56% over the same period of last year. For the first time， the service sector had received more foreign capital than the manufacturing sector.

Investment from Asian nations continued to increase， while that from the United States declined.

From January to November， paidin capital from the ten Asian nations or regions (Hong Kong， Macao， the Taiwan province， Japan， Philippines， Thailand， Malaysia， Singapore， Indonesia， and South Korea) was valued at $89.585 billion， an increase of 17.98% year on year. Paid-in capital from the United States amounted to $2.739 billion， down 23.05% from the previous year. Paid-in capital from the 27 European Union nations increased 0.29% from the previous year to $5.982 billion.

Actual use of foreign investment in central China saw rapid growth.

From January to November， the central regions made an actual use of$7.066 billion， an increase of 27.63% from a year ago， 14.48 percentage points higher than the nation’s average. The western regions made an actual use of$7.709 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 14.76% year on year， 1.61 percentage points higher than the nation’s average. The eastern regions made an actual use of $88.995 billion in for- eign investment， an increase of 12.01% from a year ago， 1.14 percentage points lower than the nation’s average.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

China’s outbound FDI

From January to November， China’s domestic investors invested directly in 130 nations and regions， with a total of non-financial outbound FDI of$50.01 billion， an increase of 5.2% year on year. $16.2 billion of the FDI was made by means of acquisition， accounting for 32.4% of the total FDI.

Investments in Hong Kong， ASEAN nations， the European Unions， Australia， the United States and Japan amounted to $37.227 billion， or 74.4% of China’s total FDI. FDI in Hong Kong and ASEAN nations maintained double-digit growth at 17.9% and 12.4% respectively. Investment in the European Union registered $1.998 billion， an increase of 1.3% from the previous year.

Overseas-contracted projects

From January to November， China’s overseas-contracted projects reported a turnover of $86.3 billion， an increase of 16.2% year on year. $114.12 billion worth of new contracts were signed， up 3.5% year on year. The top ten nations in terms of the value of newly signed contracts are India， Hong Kong， Saudi Arabia， Ethiopia， Burma， Angola， Indonesia， Nigeria， Algeria and Malaysia， with a total contract value of$44.79 billion， representing 39.3% of the total value of the newly signed contracts.

Foreign labor service cooperation

From January to November， the number of all kinds of labor sent abroad was 395，000， an increase of 38，000 year on year. At the end of November， there were a total of 822，000 Chinese working abroad， 17，000 less than the same period of last year. By the end of November this year， China had sent abroad a total of 5.83 million labor service personnel of all types on an accumulative basis.

(Source: Press conference of the Ministry of Commerce of China on December 15， 2011)