Data Watch: China’s Foreign Trade and Investment in the First FourMonths of 2012

China’s foreign trade in the first four months of 2012

According to statistics of the Customs， China’s exports and imports in the first four months of 2012 reached $1.16718 trillion， up by 6.0% over the same period of last year. Specifically， exports stood at $593.24 billion， up by 6.9% year on year; imports $573.94billion， up by 5.1%. The four months saw a trade surplus of $1.93 million.

Significant increase in trade with emerging markets. From January to April of the year， China’s bilateral trade with Russia and Brazil reported 27.7% and 14.4% increases over the same period of last year to reach $28.69 billion and $25.07 billion respectively. The nation’s trade with Europe jumped by 4.7% to reach$170.53 billion; that with the United States up by 9.2% to $146.1 billion; and that with the ASEAN up by 6.7% to $117.65 billion. China’s trade with Japan fell by 1.5% to $107.18.

Significant increase in exports of central and western China. Exports of Central and Western China jumped by 23.6% and 39.9% respectively， compared with the 4.1% increase in Eastern China. Exports of Chongqing City， Henan， Guangxi， Sichuan and Jiangxi Provinces expanded by 1.9 times， 1.2 times， 29.3%， 62.8%， and 38.35 respectively. Guangdong exports increased by 5.5% to $168.61 billion. Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces and Shanghai City reported exports volume of $95.8 billion，$65.29 billion and $63.57 billion， increases of 1.7%， 4.2% and 1.2% respectively. Exports volume of Shandong province fell by 0.3% to $38.62 billon， while those of Fujian Province and Beijing City expanded by 7.6% and 2.9% to reach $27.3 billion and $17.7 billion respectively.

Steady increase in exports of mechanical and electrical products. In the first four months of the year， China exported $346.79 billion worth of mechanical and electrical products， 8.5% higher than that of last year， 1.6 percentage points higher than the increase rate of the nation’s total exports. In specific， the country exported $140.29 billion worth of electrical appliance and electronic products， an increase of 5.5% over the same period of last year; exported $115.05 billion worth of mechanical equipment， up by 11% from the same period of last year. Among the labor-intensive goods， the country exported $39.97 billion worth of clothing， up by 1% year on year， $28.85 billion worth of textiles， down by 0.3%， and$12.4 billion worth of shoes， up by 4.2%.

Slowdown of the expansion rate of exports under the general trade. From January to April of the year， China’s general trade value jumped by 6.8% year on year to $617.06 billion. Specifically， exports reached $280.29billion， an increase of 7.3% year on year; imports increased by 6.5% to $336.77 billion. The country reported a general trade deficit of $56.48 billion， an increase of 2.7% over the same period of last year. The nation’s processing trade value jumped by 3.3% year on year to reach$412.99 billion. Specifically， exports rose by 5.3% to $266.11 billion， while imports dropped by 0.3% to $146.88 billion， resulting in a surplus of $119.23 billion， an expansion of 13.1% from the same period of last year.

Utilization of foreign investment

In the first four months of 2012， China approved the establishment of 7，016 new foreign-invested enterprises， a decline of 13.94% year on year. The nation utilized $37.881 billion worth of foreign capital， a decline of 2.38% from the same period of last year. In April alone， China utilized $8.401 billion worth of foreign capital， a decline of 0.74% from the same period of last year. By the end of April， China had approved the establishment of 745，000 foreign-invested enterprises on an accumulative basis and received $1.2 trillion in paid-in foreign capital.

Significant increase in the utilization of foreign capital by some of the service sectors. In the first four months of the year， the service industry made an actual use of $17.71 billion， a decline of 3.1% year on year and accounting for 46.8% of the nation’s total utilization of foreign capital， more than the share of the manufacturing industry. Among the service industry， such sectors as software application， comprehensive technology and financing have reported over 30% increase in the utilization of foreign capital. The sectors of agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， and fisheries made an actual use of $610 million in foreign investment， a decrease of 0.9% year on year and accounting for 1.6% of the country’s total utilization of foreign capital. The manufacturing industry made an actual use of $17.02 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 4.4% over the same period of last year and accounting for 44.9% of the national total.

Continuant increase in investment in China from Japan; significant decline in investment in China from the EU. Investment from Japan continued to rise from January to April of the year， amounting to $2.7 billion. Paidin capital from the 27 European Union nations fell by 27.9% to $1.9 billion. Investment from the United States rose by 1.9% to reach $1.05 billion. Paidin capital from ten Asia nations and regions (Hong Kong， Macau， Taiwan， Japan， the Philippines， Thailand， Malaysia， Singapore， Indonesia， and South Korea) amounted to $33.08 billion， up by 0.6% year on year.

Significant increase in paid-in foreign capital to central China. In the first four months of the year， the central regions made an actual use of$3.05 billion， an increase of 12.6% and accounting for 8% of the national total. The western regions made an actual use of $2.47 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 15.2% year on year and accounting for 6.5% of the national total. The eastern regions made an actual use of $32.36 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 2.5% year on year and accounting for 85.4% of the national total.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

China’s outbound FDI In the first four months of 2012， China’s domestic investors invested directly in 1，445 overseas corporations in 109 nations and regions， with a total of nonfinancial outbound FDI of $23.16 billion， an increase of 72.8% year on year. $8.8 billion worth of direct investment was made in the form of merger， making up for 37.7% of the total FDI. By the end of April， China had made$345.1 billion worth of FDI on an accumulative basis.

Overseas-contracted projects In the first four months of the year， China’s overseas-contracted projects reported a turnover of $29.11 billion， an increase of 17% year on year. April reported a turnover of $8.22 billion， up by 4% from the same period of last year. $35.34 billion worth of new contracts were signed from January to April， down by 19.1 % year on year. In April alone， $7.04 billion worth of new contracts were signed， down by 45.8% year on year. By the end of April， China had signed a total of $877 billion worth of agreements on contracting overseas projects， and realized $568.1 billion in turnover.

Foreign labor service cooperation In the first four months of 2012， the number of all kinds of labor sent abroad was 132，000， a drop of 2，000 from the same with last year. 66，000 of them are working on overseas contracted projects， and 66，000 of them are for labor cooperation. At the end of April， there were a total of 814，000 Chinese working abroad， 39，000 more than the same period of last year.