By Xinyi Li, EDITOR

On April 16, according to Chongqing Customs District P. R. China (abbreviated as Chongqing Customs below), Chongqing’s foreign trade maintained rapid growth in the first quarter of 2019. Chongqing’s total import and export value achieved RMB 131.53 billion, ranking the 11th in China. With a year-on-year growth (the same time below) of 21.9%, Chongqing’s growth rate ranked the 2nd among the top 11 provinces in total import and export value. Among the total value of foreign trade, the value of export was RMB 86.52 billion, an increase of 25.1%; and the value of import was RMB 45.01 billion, an increase of 16.2%.

Chongqing’s foreign trade maintained rapid growth in the first quarter of 2019

In terms of exports, in the first quarter, the value of exported mechanical and electrical products, mainly computer products, totaled RMB 75.33 billion, with an increase of 23.9%. On the other hand, during the same period, the value of imported products, mainly integrated circuits, and ore products like iron ore, totaled RMB 15.88 billion and RMB 2.95 billion respectively, with an increase of 55.8% and 48.6% respectively.

Chongqing’s total import and export value achieved RMB 131.53 billion, ranking the 11th in China

Four features of rapid growth

First of all, the import and export value of processing trade gained a distinct growth. In the first quarter, Chongqing’s import-export volume of processing trade was RMB 63.33 billion, a growth of 24%. It accounted for 48.1% of Chongqing’s total foreign trade value in the same period. The import and export value of general trade totaled RMB 47.95 billion, a growth of 11.5%, accounting for 36.5% of the total. The import and export value of bonded logistics totaled RMB 19.9 billion, a growth of 49.6%, accounting for 15.1% of the total.

Meanwhile, the total foreign trade values of Chongqing-EU and Chongqing-ASEAN increased dramatically. In the first quarter, the import and export value between Chongqing and the EU was RMB 29.17 billion, with a growth of 34.6% while the trade value between Chongqing and ASEAN was RMB 24.52 billion, with a growth of 48.2%. In addition, the total import and export value between Chongqing and countries along the “Belt and Road” was RMB 36.11 billion in total, an increase of 34.6%.

Besides, the vitality of market entities improved a lot. In the first quarter, the number of enterprises with import and export achievement in Chongqing has increased from 2,199 to 2,411 on a year-on-year basis. The import and export volumes of foreign-invested enterprises and private enterprises increased significantly, with a year-on-year growth of 24.3% and 26.3% respectively.

Furthermore, platforms for opening-up contributed nearly 90% of the growth of foreign trade value. In the first quarter, the total foreign trade value of platforms of opening-up such as special customs supervision areas and bonded logistics centers (Type B) was RMB 81.68 billion. It accounted for 62.1% of Chongqing’s total foreign trade value in the same period, achieving an increase of 5.4 percentage points and contributing 86.9% to the growth of foreign trade value.

Source: CQCB