China's Exports Hit Record of US$56.2 Billion in July

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 14, 2002

China's Exports Hit Record of US$56.2 Billion in July

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Official figures show China's import and export volume reached 56.2 billion US dollars in July, up 28.4 percent on a year-on-year basis, with the exports surging by 28.1 percent to a record 29.21 billion US dollars.

According to statistics released Monday by the General Administration of Customs, imports in July rose to 26.99 billion US dollars, a 28.9 percent growth. A 2.22-billion-dollar favorable balance was achieved.

Figures show the total trade volume during January-July period reached 326.84 billion US dollars, up 14.8 percent. Exports rose 16.2 percent to 171.24 billion US dollars, while imports increased by 13.2 percent to 155.6 billion US dollars. A trade surplus of 15.64 billion US dollars was realized.

Statistics show in the seven months, the imports and exports of normal trade shot up by 9.6 percent to 139.83 billion US dollars with imports growing by 4.8 percent to 67.83 billion US dollars and exports by 14.6 percent to 72 billion US dollars.

In the same period, the imports and exports of the processing trade soared by 20.1 percent to 159.41 billion US dollars, with exports growing 17.1 percent to 94.61 billion US dollars, and imports by 24.8 percent to 64.8 billion US dollars.

Figures show exports of machinery and electronic equipment went up 26.5 percent to 81.63 billion US dollars. Exports of garments reached 21.03 billion US dollars, up 6.4 percent, exports of textiles and textile products 11.2 billion US dollars, up 14.6 percent, shoe products 6.19 billion US dollars, up 3.1 percent, and toys 2.71 billion US dollars, up 7.6 percent.

CPI drops 0.9 percent

China's consumer price index (CPI) for July dropped 0.9 percent over the same time last year, official statistics show.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday the CPI, one of the standard measures of inflation, fell 1 percent in urban areas year-on-year in July, while the CPI in rural areas dropped 0.7 percent.

According to the NBS figures, 22 of the 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions surveyed saw falls in the CPI in July, ranging from 0.5 percent to 2.7 percent. Those that saw the largest drops were Guangdong Province, down 2.7 percent; Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, both down 2.1 percent; and Guangxi Autonomous Region, 1.7 percent.

The prices of services in July rose 1.5 percent year-on-year. But prices of consumer goods dropped 1.7 percent, food 0.9 percent and non-food products 1 percent.

Actual overseas investment surges

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China surged 41.78 percent in July, the seventh month of continuous growth this year, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) said in Beijing on Tuesday.

MOFTEC said in a press release that China approved a total of 3,371 new overseas-invested ventures in July, up 63.09 percent compared with the same month last year. The contractual volume of FDI reached 10.363 billion US dollars, up 51.64 percent. Arrived FDI added up to 4.963 billion US dollars.

By the end of July, China had approved a total of 408,500 overseas-invested ventures, involving 799.645 billion US dollars in contractual volume. Actual FDI hit 424.765 billion US dollars.

Actual FDI in China showed strong growth in the first half of 2002. From January to June, actual FDI in China added up to 24.579billion US dollars, up 18.69 percent, the best half-yearly growth for the past 20 years.

Chinese analysts said the surge in FDI was mainly the result ofChina's entry into the World Trade Organization, the country's strong economic growth and adjustment to the flow of internationalcapital.

Gao Yan, MOFTEC spokeswoman, said at a recent press conference that China would continue to improve its "soft investment environment", by reforming its approval mechanism and improving the efficiency of government institutions.

Analysts said although there was uncertainty in the world economy, FDI in China was expected to keep growing in the next fewmonths. Some predict this year's actual FDI in China will surpass 50 billion US dollars for the first time.

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