CHINESE FOREIGN TRADE IN FIGURES

Thanks to its enormous trade surplus over the past few years, China has become the world's largest exporter and ranks second among the world’s largest importers. Despite its strict policies, the country is fairly open to foreign trade, which represented 35.7% of its GDP in 2019 (World Bank, 2020). China's main exports include transmission apparatus for radio-telephony (9%), automatic data processing machines and units (5.9%), electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies (4.1%) and petroleum oils (1.5%). On the other hand, the country mainly imports electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies (14.8%), petroleum oils (11.5%), iron ores (4.8%), petroleum gas (2.5%) and motor vehicles (2.3%). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting a rebound of 7.8% in the volume of exports of goods and services of this country in 2021, after a nil increase (0%) in 2020, and a jump of 10% of its imports, after a fall of 2.7% in 2020.

The country's main partners are the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia and Germany. Increasing tensions in the U.S. - China economic relationship have heightened business uncertainties in 2020, given that the US is the country's main trade partner (China's 2019 trade surplus with the U.S. was USD 295.8 billion after an all-time record of 323.3 billion in 2018). Similar tensions were at play with Australia although with less consequences for China. However, the Chinese government has been adopting looser economic policies to mitigate mounting risks to future growth. On the 15th of November 2020 China has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries. This free trade agreement is the largest trade deal in history, covering 30 per cent of the global economy. It includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN : Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea). The RCEP covers goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation. It also creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium sized enterprises.

Trade has become an increasingly important part of China’s overall economy, and it has been a significant tool used for economic modernisation. As reported by WTO in 2020, exports of goods in 2019 were USD 2,499.4 billion and imports USD 2,078.4 billion, while exports and imports of services in 2019 reached USD 281.6 billion and USD 497 billion respectively. China reported an overall 19.5% increase in exports and 18.7% rise in imports for 2019. According to the World Bank data of 2019, China's trade surplus for goods stood at USD 425.2 billion, an increase from USD 395.1 billion in 2018. The overall trade balance (including services) was USD 164.1 billion in 2019, from 103 billion the previous year.

Foreign Trade Values	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Imports of Goods (million USD)	1,681,951	1,587,431	1,843,793	2,135,748	2,078,386
Exports of Goods (million USD)	2,274,949	2,098,161	2,263,345	2,486,695	2,499,457
Imports of Services (million USD)	466,330	453,014	464,133	520,683	496,967
Exports of Services (million USD)	285,476	208,488	226,389	269,697	281,651

Source: World Trade Organisation (WTO) ; Latest available data

 

Foreign Trade Indicators	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Foreign Trade (in % of GDP)	36.9	37.6	37.5	35.8	34.5
Trade Balance (million USD)	488,883	475,941	380,074	392,993	515,000
Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD)	255,737	217,010	87,905	131,844	369,673
Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP)	17.3	17.9	18.3	17.3	16.0
Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP)	19.6	19.7	19.1	18.5	18.5

Source: World Bank ; Latest available data

 

Foreign Trade Forecasts	2020	2021 (e)	2022 (e)	2023 (e)	2024 (e)
Volume of exports of goods and services (Annual % change)	2.0	6.9	4.3	3.4	3.9
Volume of imports of goods and services (Annual % change)	-1.5	6.9	7.5	3.5	4.3

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook ; Latest available data

Note: (e) Estimated Data

 

Main Partner Countries

Main Customers (% of Exports)	2019
United States	16.8%
Hong Kong	11.2%
Japan	5.7%
South Korea	4.4%
Vietnam	3.9%
Germany	3.2%
India	3.0%
Netherlands	3.0%
United Kingdom	2.5%
Singapore	2.2%

 

Main Suppliers (% of Imports)	2019
South Korea	8.4%
Japan	8.3%
United States	6.0%
Australia	5.8%
Germany	5.1%
Brazil	3.8%
Malaysia	3.5%
Vietnam	3.1%
Russia	2.9%
Saudi Arabia	2.6%

 

Source: Comtrade, Latest Available Data

 

Main products

2,498.6 bn USD of products exported in 2019
Electrical apparatus for line telephony or line...	9.0%
Automatic data processing machines and units...	5.9%
Electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies	4.1%
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...	1.5%
Diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor...	1.4%
Parts and accessories for tractors, motor vehicles...	1.3%
Lamps and lighting fittings, incl. searchlights...	1.3%
Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying...Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with machines of heading 8469 to 8472, n.e.s.	1.3%
Toys (excl. wheeled toys designed to be ridden by...	1.3%
Television receivers, whether or not incorporating...	1.2%

 

2,069.0 bn USD of products imported in 2019
Electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies	14.8%
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...	11.5%
Iron ores and concentrates, incl. roasted iron...	4.8%
Petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons	2.5%
Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...	2.3%
Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought...	2.1%
Electrical apparatus for line telephony or line...	2.1%
Soya beans, whether or not broken	1.7%
Copper ores and concentrates	1.6%
Automatic data processing machines and units...Automatic data processing machines and units thereof; magnetic or optical readers, machines for transcribing data onto data media in coded form and machines for processing such data, n.e.s.	1.5%

Source: Comtrade, Latest Available Data

 

Main Services

209.0 bn USD of services exported in 2018
Other business services	31.66%
Transportation	20.25%
Travel	19.33%
Computer and information services	14.37%
Construction services	6.49%
Royalties and license fees	2.66%
Insurance services	2.36%
Financial services	1.60%
Government services	0.84%
Cultural and recreational services	0.46%

 

523.0 bn USD of services imported in 2018
Travel	53.03%
Transportation	20.88%
Other business services	8.99%
Royalties and license fees	6.84%
Computer and information services	4.50%
Insurance services	2.21%
Construction services	1.65%
Government services	0.86%
Cultural and recreational services	0.65%
Financial services	0.40%

Source: United Nations Statistics Division, Latest Available Data

 

Exchange Rate System

Local Currency

Chinese Yuan (Renminbi) (CNY)

Exchange Rate Regime

Managed floating exchange rate regime, allowing Central Bank interventions.

Level of Currency Instability

Significant risks of instability. Volatility may increase with China’s economic slowdown, a change in U.S. monetary policy or international pressures on the Government for a revaluation of the currency.

Exchange Rate on August 31, 2021:

1 CNY = 0.1545 USD, 1 USD = 6.4714 CNY
1 CNY = 0.1309 EUR, 1 EUR = 7.6399 CNY

 

Monetary Indicators	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Chinese Yuan (Renminbi) (CNY) - Average Annual Exchange Rate For 1 EUR	6.65	7.07	7.63	7.81	7.75

Source: World Bank - Latest available data.

 

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