Data Watch on China’s Foreign Trade and Investment in H1 of 2012

China’s foreign trade in the first half of 2012

According to statistics of the Customs， China’s exports and imports in the first six months of 2012 reached$1.83984 trillion， up by 8.0% over the same period of last year. Specifically， exports stood at $954.38 billion， up by 9.2% year on year; imports $885.46 billion， up by 6.7%. The six months saw a trade surplus of $68.91 billion with an increase of 56.4%.

Significant increase in exports of mechanical and electrical products; optimization in commodity structure of exports. In the first six months of the year， China exported$550.25 billion worth of mechanical and electrical products， 10.5% higher than that of last year， 1.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the nation’s total exports， which accounted for 57.7% of the total export value. In specific， the exports of mobile phones and integrated circuits increased 23.9% and 18.6% respectively. During the past half year of 2012， the exports of “resource-independent”products presented a decline of 3.8%， with a total amount of $43.84 billion.

Steady increase of the expansion rate of exports under the general trade; downturn of processing trade imports. From January to June of this year， China’s exports value under the general trade increased by 10.1% year on year to $460.58 billion， which boosted the exports growth by 4.8 percentage points higher， while imports value under the general trade increased by 7.8% to $514.52 billion. China’s exports value in processing trade rose by 6.4% to $415.27 billion， while the imports value only increased 0.7% to$227.88 billion， the increase speed of which had been still dropping since the second quarter of the year 2011， accounting for 25.7% of the total imports value， and 1.6 percentage points lower over the same period of last year.

Significant increase in foreign trade by private enterprises. During the last six months， the export and import value by private enterprises reached to $550.43 billion， up by 19% year on year， 11 percentage points higher than the whole export and import increase speed， accounting for 29.9% of the total export and import value. The export and import value by foreign-invested enterprises reached to $909.96 billion， up by 4% year on year， accounting for 49.5% of the total export and import value. The export and import value by state-owned enterprises reached to $379.45 billion， up by 3.5% over the same period of last year， accounting for 20.6% of the total export and import value.

Significant increase in trade with emerging markets; acceleration of market diversification process. From January to June of the year， China’s trade with Europe reported 0.7% increase over the same period of last year， 11.9% increase with the United States， 0.2% decrease with Japan， 9.7% increase with the ASEAN， 11.8% increase with Brazil， 21.7% increase with Russia， and 36.5% increase with South Africa.

Significant increase in exports and imports of Central and Western China. During the first half year of 2012， the exports of Eastern China increased by 5.6% and imports increased by 6.1%， which presented 2.9 and 0.5 percentage points lower of the total exports and imports value respectively. As the effects of industrial transfer policy further came into play， the increasing rates of Central and Western China exports rose by 24.1% and 58.9% respectively， which meant 14.9 and 49.7 percentage points higher than the total export increase rate; while the increasing rates of imports rose by 10.1% and 14.8% respectively， which presented 3.4 and 8.1 percentage points higher than the total import increase rate.

Utilization of foreign investment

In the first six months of 2012， China approved the establishment of 11，705 new foreign-invested enterprises in non-financial fields， a decline of 13.1% year on year. China utilized$59.1 billion worth of foreign capital， a decline of 3% from the same period of last year. In June alone， the number of newly-set-up foreign-invested enterprises was 2，444， down by 16.3%， and the sum of foreign capital utilization was $12 billion， down by 6.9%. (Excluding the data of banking， securities or insurance industries.)

Further improvement in industrial structure of foreign investment. From January to June， the sectors of agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， and fisheries made an actual use of$890 million in foreign investment， a decrease of 14.4% year on year and accounting for 1.5% of the country’s total utilization of foreign capital. The manufacturing industry made an actual use of $27.02 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 5.1% over the same period of last year and accounting for 45.7% of the national total. The service industry made an actual use of$27.24 billion， a decline of 2.9% year on year and accounting for 46.1% of the nation’s total utilization of foreign capital. Specifically， foreign investment in real estate had been regulated effectively， which resulted in a decline of 12.4% of foreign capital utilization; the following sectors had saw a rapid growth in the utilization of foreign capital， that is， financing up by 73.3%， information transmission， computer service and software industry up by 62.6%， and scientific research， technical service and geological prospecting up by 17.8%. Without considering the real estate industry， the nation made an actual use of $46.8 billion during the last half year， only down by 0.1% year on year， and the figure was 6.6% for other service industries.

The investment from EU changed from decrease to increase. During the past half year， 27 countries of EU approved the establishment of 848 new enterprises in China， an increase of 1.0% to an amount of $3.52 billion foreign capital， which was 1.6% increase year on year. (It was 5.1% decline in the first five months this year.) To be specific， the amounts of investment from German， Switzerland and Holland were$900 million， $720 million and $580 million respectively， which meant increases of 31.2%， 213.1% and 67.3% for each. The number of newly-setup enterprises in China from ten Asia nations and regions (Hong Kong， Macau， Taiwan， Japan， the Philippines， Thailand， Malaysia， Singapore， Indonesia， and South Korea) reached to 9，169， down by 15.5%， and the amount of paid-in capital was $51.07 billion， down by 2.8%. Paid-in capital from Japan rose by 16.9% to $4.10 billion. The United States approved the establishment of 698 enterprises in China， a decline of 4.0%， and the amount of paid-in capital fell by 3.2% to $1.63 billion.

Significant increase in paidin foreign capital to Central China. From January to June， the central regions made an actual use of $4.82 billion， an increase of 8.5%， and accounting for 8.2% of the national total. The eastern regions made an actual use of$50.32 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 2.9% year on year and accounting for 85.2% of the national total. The western regions made an actual use of $3.95 billion in foreign investment， a decline of 15.1% year on year and accounting for 6.7% of the national total.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

China’s outbound FDI. In the first half year of 2012， China’s domestic investors invested directly in 2，163 overseas corporations in 116 nations and regions， with a total of nonfinancial outbound FDI of $35.42 billion， an increase of 48.2% year on year.$11.8 billion worth of direct investment was made in the form of merger， making up for 33.3% of the total FDI. The investment in Hong Kong， ASEAN， the United States and Russia reached to a double-digit growth， which were 58.9%， 34.3%， 28.2% and 20.3% respectively. Local FDI had an increase of 27.8% year on year to $11.06 billion， accounting for 31.2% of the total FDI. Provinces like Guangdong， Shandong， Hunan， Gansu and Jiangsu were ranking on the top of the local investment list. By the end of June， China had made $357.5 billion worth of FDI on an accumulative basis.

Overseas-contracted projects.

In the past six months of the year， China’s overseas-contracted projects reported a turnover of $50.35 billion， an increase of 18.4% year on year. June reported a turnover of $13.69 billion， up by 34.1% from the same period of last year. $66.76 billion worth of new contracts were signed from January to June， up by 0.9 % year on year. In June alone， $23.18 billion worth of new contracts were signed， up by 92.8%. By the end of June， China had signed a total of $908.4 billion worth of agreements on contracting overseas projects， and realized $589.4 billion in turnover.

Foreign labor service coopera

tion. In the first half year of 2012， the number of all kinds of labor sent abroad was 216，000， an increase of 5，000 from the same period of last year. 117，000 of them were working on overseas contracted projects， and 99，000 of them were for labor cooperation. At the end of June， there were a total of 843，000 Chinese working abroad， 54，000 more than the same period of last year.

(Source: Press conference of the Ministry of Commerce of China on July 17， 2012)