2018年CRI China's foreign trade volume in January rises higher

 

The latest figures from China's General Administration of Customs have shown that China's foreign trade volume increased in January 2018, with both imports and exports rising higher than expectations.

The country's foreign trade volume rose 16.2% year on year in the first month of 2018 to 2.51 trillion yuan, or nearly 400 billion U.S. dollars.

China's exports increased 6% to 1.32 trillion yuan, while imports surged 30.2% to 1.19 trillion yuan.

Wang Jun, a chief economist¹ with Zhongyuan Bank, explained some of the factors that contributed to the increase.

"First of all, there are seasonal² factors such as the date of the Spring Festival, as the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2017 fell in January; while this year, it falls in February. Secondly³, China's currency has been strengthening over the past a few months. Thirdly, the Chinese economy has made further progress on the basis of stability over the past year. All of these factors have led to the increase of imports and exports," said Wang.

China's general trade expanded to nearly 1.5 trillion yuan in January, accounting⁴ for 58.6% of total foreign trade.

Bai Ming is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under China's Ministry⁵ of Commerce.

He said the recent growth reflects the transformation⁶ of China's foreign trade.

"Although China's exports surged 6% last month, the general trade exports rose 7.1%. This is partly due to our policies to transform and upgrade the country's foreign trade, as more independent brand and intellectual property rights are allowed to be involved in general trade," said Bai.

The European Union, the United States, and ASEAN are China's top three trading partners, although trade with countries along the Belt and Road rose higher than the general level of trade growth.

However, China's trade surplus in January shrank 59.7% to 135.8 billion yuan.

Wang Jun said the country has been pursuing balanced foreign trade for years.

"The remarkable⁷ performance concerning China's imports in the first month of the year, on one hand, reflects the strong domestic demand. On the other hand, they are partly the results of China's pursuit of a balanced trade for years. As is known to all, China will host the first China International Import Expo this year, which expresses the country's willingness to share the fruitful results from its economic growth with the world," said Wang.

Exports of machinery⁸, electronics, and home appliances continued to expand in January, while the volume of steel exports dropped.

Chinese private enterprises also played a bigger role in trade last month, with their share of trade edging up 0.2 percentage points compared with January 2016.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

3 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。