Chinese foreign trade up 2.8 percent for year-to-date

China's foreign trade rose by 2.8 percent year on year to 22.91 trillion yuan (US$3.25 trillion) in the first three quarters with robust momentum in the private sector.

Exports in the January-September period jumped 5.2 percent to 12.48 trillion yuan, while imports edged down 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 10.43 trillion yuan, with the trade surplus surging 44.2 percent to 2.05 trillion yuan, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Monday. 

As for September, China saw foreign trade decline 3.3 percent year on year to total 2.78 trillion yuan, of which exports dipped 0.7 percent to 1.53 trillion yuan, while imports tumbled 6.2 percent to 1.25 trillion yuan.

Li Kuiwen, director of the General Administration of Customs' Department of Statistics, said that despite international trade growth moderating since the beginning of this year amid a more complex and severe external environment, China's foreign trade maintained stable growth in the first three quarters with the structure being constantly optimized.

China Customs said general trade rose steadily in the year to date, with its proportion in the country's overall foreign trade growing larger.

In the first nine months, China's general trade advanced 4.8 percent to top 13.64 trillion yuan, accounting for 59.5 percent in total imports and exports which is 1.1 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year.

The European Union remained China's largest trading partner at 3.57 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, up 8.6 percent, to account for 15.6 percent of all foreign trade.

Trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations added up to 3.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.5 percent, accounting for 13.7 percent of the total and making ASEAN the second-largest trading partner of China.

Trade with the United States, however, extended its decline, with the value down 10.3 percent to 2.75 trillion yuan over the period.

Huang Jun, chief China economist at Forex. com, said investors are still cautious over Sino-US trade disputes. 

"But the worst time may have passed since the means of posing tariffs has been used to its extreme," Huang said. "Judging from the real effect of the tariffs, there won't be worse outcome."

China Customs also highlighted growth in foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road, which posted an increase of 9.5 percent to total 6.65 trillion yuan, 6.7 percentage points above the overall foreign trade growth and accounting for 29 percent in China's total imports and exports.

Also of note, private enterprises posted rapid growth in trade. In the first three quarters, they contributed a total of 9.69 trillion yuan to China's exports and imports, up 10.4 percent, accounting for 42.3 percent of the total foreign trade value and representing a 2.9 percent increase over the same period last year. 

Among them, exports totaled 6.4 trillion yuan, up 13 percent, accounting for 51.3 percent of the headline exports, while imports grew 5.9 percent to 3.29 trillion yuan to account for 31.5 percent of the overall imports.

Meanwhile, foreign-invested enterprises posted foreign trade down 2.9 percent to 9.22 trillion yuan, while imports and exports of state-owned enterprises edged down 0.7 percent to 3.93 trillion yuan.

Imports of commodities such as crude oil, coal and natural gas posted increases of 9.7 percent, 9.5 percent and 10 percent respectively in volume. Imports of pork and beef also surged 43.6 percent and 53.4 percent separately, while that of soybeans dropped 7.9 percent in the first nine months.

"China's commodity imports for September were mixed amid uncertainty surrounding global economic backdrop. Energy imports showed continued strength, while industrial metals were largely weaker," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

With maintenance season wrapping up, oil imports stayed buoyant. Attractive profit margins continued to favor higher imports, despite the industry burdened by higher products inventories. LNG imports slipped only slightly from their August levels, but were up strongly on a yea-on-year basis, according to the ANZ Group.