Download Pressure of China's Foreign Trade Increased Significantly

China's foreign trade from January to October

Compared with 2014， China's foreign trade was facing a more complex and grimmer situation， downward pres-sure increased significantly. According to Customs figures， China's total import and export in from January to October reached $3.22696 trillion， down 8.5% year on year (the same below). Export was $1.85645 trillion， down 2.5%， import $1.37052 trillion， down 15.7%. The totalimport and export in October reached $323.19 billion， down 12.1%. Among which， export was $192.41 bil-lion， down 6.4%， and import $130.77 billion， down 18.8%. The main charac-teristics of foreign trade from January to October are as follows:

1. The exports of general trade kept growing， its proportion increased as well. From January to October， ex-ports of general trade reached $999.8 billion， up l.8%， accounting for 53.9% of overall export， 2.3 percentage points higher than last year over the same pe-riod. Exports of processing trade was $649.3 billion， down 9.0%， accounting for 35% of national total， 2.5 percentage points lower than last year over the same period.

2. The exports ofelectromechan-ical products maintained a steady growth， the exports oflabor-intensive products declined. From January to October， exports of electromechanical products reached $1.06557 trillion， an increase of 0.8%， accounted for 57.4% of whole exports， up l.9 percentage point over last year. Among them， the exports of mobile phones， ships， lamps increased by 13.1%， 16.9% and 13.9% respective-ly. The exports of seven categories of labor-intensive products was $389.59 billion， down 3.0 percent points， among which， the exports of textiles， clothing and footwear fell l.9%， 7.5% and 5.1% respectively.

3. Exports of private enterprises kept growing. From January to October， exports of private enterprises reached $831.5 billion， an increase of l.3% over the same period， accounted for 44.8% of the whole exports， increased l.7 percent-age point over last year.

4. Foreign trade with the \"belt and road\" countries increased more rapidly. From January to October， ex-ports with the \"belt and road\" countries such as India， Thailand， Vietnam rose 8.4%， 14.3% and 5.5% respectively. Exports with the United States， ASE-AN grew 5.2% and 3.7%. Exports with traditional export markets like EU， Japan， Hong Kong down 4.1%， 9.5%， and 12.2%. Exports with Russia and Brazil (emerging markets) fell 35.7% and 17.2% respectively.

5. Exports in Eastern China， Middle China and Western China saw a negative growth. From January to October， the exports of ten provinces /cities from Eastern China (Beijing， Tianjin， Hebei， Liaoning， Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang， Fujian， Shandong， Guangdong) reached $1.54993 trillion， down l.9%. Exports of Midwest was $306.52 billion， down 5.2%.

6. Affected by the decline in com-modity prices and weaker domestic demand， imports was still runningin a low position. From January to October， the imports of eight categories of com-modity - crude oil， plastics， soybean oil， refined oil， natural gas， pulp， grain and copper - dropped in price while increased in volume， reducing the total payment of over $1340 million (equiv-alent to about RMB 840 billion yuan)， which dramatically lowering down the cost of domestic production.

7. From the international com-parison， China's export situation was better than other major economies and emerging market countries. Accord-ing to WTO statistics， from January to August， exports ofthe United States and the EU decreased by 6.0% and 14.7%; from January to October， exports of Japan， Korea， India， South Africa and Brazil down 9.2%， 6.6%， 16.6%， 7.9% and 16.8 %. China's international market share increased steadily， from 12.4% of the end of2014 to around 13% this year.

Foreign Investment in China

In the first ten months of 2015， 21，022 foreign-funded enterprises were approved， up 9.3% year on year. Actual utilized foreign capitalwas 639.42 billion yuan ($103.68 billion)， up 8.6%. Only in October， 2，042 new foreign enter-prises were founded， up 2.5%. Actually utilized foreign capital was 54.68 billion yuan ($8.77billion)， up 4.2% year on year. The main characteristics of foreign investment from January to October are as follows:

Industrial structure was further optimized. From January to October， the actual use of foreign mvestment in services was $63.42 billion， an increase of 19.4%， accounting for 61.2% of the national total， actual use of foreign in-vestment in high-tech services reached $6.76 billion， an increase of 57.5 per-cent， accounting 17.5% of the actually utilized foreign investment in services (in addition to real estate). Among them， the scientific research， infor-mation technology services， research and design services increased consid-erably， increased by 86.5%， 48.8% and 41.3% respectively. The actual use of foreign investment in manufacturing was $32.6 billion， an increase of 0.2%， accounting for 31.4% in the national total， of which， actual utilized foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing was $7.58 billion， up 11.6%， accounting for 23.3% of the total volume. Among them， the actual use of foreign invest-ment in communications equipment manufacturing， electronics manufac-turing and chemical manufacturing increased by 143.6%， 36.2% and 20.8% respectively.

The foreign investment coun-tries/regions appeared to be in a differentiation trend. From January to October， foreign investment from ASEAN， the EU， the belt and road countries， Hong Kong and Macao grew 10.8%， 13.7%， 14%， 12.6% and 68.9% respectively; Investment from Japan， the United States and Taiwan fell 25.1%， 13.6% and 19.3%. The top ten countries/ regions of foreign capitalinvestment ac-tually invested $97.6 billion， accounting for 94.1 percent of the country's total FDI，increased 8%.

Only in October， 158 enterprises from 28 countries of EU were newly founded， up 8.2%; actual foreign invest-ment reached $0.6 billion， and increase of10.8 percent.

Pulling effect ofthe FTA test area became obvious. With the deep-ening reform of free trade area， from January to October， the actual use of foreign investment in Eastern China reached $88.41 billion， an increase of 10.1%. 9859 foreign-invested enterpris-es were newly established in Yangtze River Economic Belt region， an in-crease of 7.8%， accounting for 47% of the national total.

Foreign mergers and acquisitions (M A) transaction amount and its proportion increased considerably. From January to October， 1，122 for-eign-funded enterprises was established in the way of mergers and acquisitions， up 16%; the actual use of foreign invest-ment was $15.98 billion， an increase of 176.9%. The share of acquisition in the actual use of foreign investment rose from last year' 6% t0 15.4% over the same period.

Investment from major coun-tries/regions maintained stable. From January to October， actual FDI in the Chinese mainland from top 10 inves-tors (Hong Kong， Singapore， Taiwan， the ROK， Japan， the U.S.， Germany， France， the UK and Macau) amounted to $80.46 billion， accounting for 94.3% of the total， up 9.5% year on year. The FDI from Hong Kong， Macau of Chi-na， and France and the UK increased the most， which was $62.85 billion， $0.71 billion， $1 billion and $0.88 bil-lion， up 15.8%， 68.6%， 115.1% and 4.7% respectively. Besides， the EU invested $5.12 billion to the Chinese mainland， up 14.4%. Investment from Japan was $2.25 billion， down 28.8%. Investment from the U.S. was $1.67 billion， down 19.6%. The investment from ASEAN was $4.43 billion， down by 5.2%.

In October， 131 newly enterpris-es from ASEAN were established， up 29.7%， the actual use of foreign invest-ment reached $340 million， down 31.8% year on year. 175 newly enterprises was established by 28 countries of EU， the actual use of foreign investment reached $590 million， down 9.1% year on year.

The actual utilized capital in Eastern China maintained a rapid growth. From January to October， the actual use of foreign investment in Eastern China reached $72.81 billion， an increase of 12.1%; the actual use of foreign investment in Central China was $7.62 billion， down 4.3%; the actual use of foreign investment in Western region was 4.91 billion US dollars， down 9.1%.

The amount and proportion of foreign mergers and acquisitions increased largely. From January to Oc-tober， 871 foreign-invested enterprises was established in the way of mergers and acquisitions， contracted foreign in-vestment $16.35 billion， the actual use of foreign investment $14.55 billion， up 15.4%， 144.2% and 297.7% year on year. The proportion of which rose from 4.7% to 17.1% compared to the same period of last year.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

Direct investment abroad

From January to October， Chi-nese investors made direct investment in 5553 businesses in 152 countries and regions， with a combined investment of 589.2 billion yuan (equivalent to $95.21 billion)， increased by 16.3%. By the end of October， China's non-financial direct investment overseas totaled 5.2 trillion yuan (equivalent to $840.2 billion).

From January to October， there were 49 major economies which holding the flow of 100 million dollars invest-ment from China， and 10 0f them was over $1 billion， they were Hong Kong， The Cayman Islands， the United States， Singapore， the British Virgin Islands， Netherlands， Australia， The Republic of Kazakhstan， Laos and Brazil.

From January to October， the Chinese mainland's investment in seven economies， namely Hong Kong， ASE-AN， EU， Australia， the U.S.， Russia and Japan reached $70.52 billion， tak-ing up 74% of the total foreign direct investment during the same period. Investment in EU， the U.S. and Hong Kong grew more rapidly， which were up 115.8%， 31.5% and 18.8% respectively; Investment in EU， Australia and Russia was down 39.2%， 12.7% and 8.5%.

In October， China's direct invest-ment abroad reached $7.91 billion， up

Contracted projects overseas

From January to October， the turnover of China's contracted projects overseas amounted to RMB 710.64 billion， equivalent to $114.84 bil-lion， up 6.4% year on year. The value of new-signed contracts was RMB 921.53 billion， equivalent to $124.92 billion， up 18.3% year on year. The turnover of October alone was RMB 14.02 billion， down 10.2%， the value of new-signed contracts was $11.29 billion， down 33.9%.

Labor service cooperation overseas

From January to October， labor service personnel dispatched overseas reached 427，000， a decrease of 22，000 over the same period of2014 and down 4.9% year on year. Labor service per-sonnel sent abroad for contracted proj-ects were 213，000， and those for labor cooperation projects were 215，000. In October， alllabor service personnel dis-patched overseas reached 45，000， a de-crease of 9，000 0ver the same period of 2014. By the end of October， all labor service personnel dispatched overseas were l，032，000， an increase of 34，000 compared to the same period oflast year.