China's foreign trade continues to weaken

Specifically, the exports of central and western regions soared 16.5 percent, much higher than the national average level.

Key production sites started to expand into less developed central-west regions from the developed eastern coast.

Private-owned enterprises contributed 34.9 percent of the overall foreign trade volume in the first three months, 2.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year, said Huang. "Illustrating gradual improvement of self-directed development of foreign trade."

Huang further noted that the structure of exports has also been upgraded given the robust performances of high-end products.

The transportation vehicle, smart phone and metal processing tool sectors all expanded over 20 percent year on year in the first quarter.

As to the imports, Huang said China managed to buy more because of an overall 9.8 percent price drop in imports.

The prices of imported iron and ore, crude oil and coal slipped 45 percent, 46.8 percent and 18.6 percent on average year on year, Huang said.

Foreign trade in general has improved in "structure," "benefit" and "quality" despite weakened growth, he continued.

Trade surplus exploded 6.1 times to 755.3 billion yuan in the first three months.

As China has entered a "new normal" phase, marked by slower but better growth, the central government has been at pains to move the economy away from growth that relied heavily on investment and exports.

China's economic rise over the past two decades relied on enormous capital investment and exports backed by a huge, cheap labor force, but that cannot last forever.

The economy grew 7.4 percent in 2014, a 24-year low. The official growth target this year is a record low of around 7 percent.

China has a full "tool kit" at its disposal and will use it if growth nears the lower end of the range, Premier Li Keqiang said in early March.

As part of efforts to shore up growth, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives were launched to improve cooperation with countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.

The overall foreign trade volume with the countries alongside the "Belt and Road" was estimated at 1.45 trillion yuan in the first quarter this year, accounting for more than 25 percent of the total. The growth rate of exports to those countries as a whole has exceeded 10 percent year on year, far exceeding the global average, said Huang.

 

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