Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce Comments on China’s Outward Investment and Cooperation in January-February 2020

In January-February 2020, China’s domestic investors made non-financial direct investment in 1,733 overseas enterprises from 147 countries and regions, with an accumulative investment amount of 107.86 billion yuan, up 1.8% year on year (equivalent to US$15.5 billion, down 1% year on year). The turnover of overseas contracted projects was 108 billion yuan, down 9.5% year on year (equivalent to US$15.52 billion, down 12% year on year). The value of newly signed contracts was 215.03 billion yuan, up 38.3% year on year (equivalent to US$30.9 billion, up 34.5% year on year). The number of various kinds of workers dispatched overseas for labor cooperation reached 39,000 and decreased by 29,000 year on year. At the end of February, the number of various kinds of workers dispatched overseas amounted to 778,000.

In January-February, China’s outward investment and cooperation mainly showed the following characteristics: 

First, investment and cooperation with the countries along the Belt and Road saw a larger increase. In January-February, Chinese enterprises made newly-added investment in 48 countries along the Belt and Road, with a total amount of US$2.72 billion, up 18.3% year on year. The contract value of newly-signed contracted projects in the countries along the Belt and Road was US$15.36 billion, up 25.6% year on year, and the turnover was US$9.14 billion.

Second, the structure of outward investment continued to be diversified. In January-February, outward investment mainly flowed into traditional investment fields such as leasing and commercial service industry, wholesale and retail industry, manufacturing industry and mining industry, taking up 40.8%, 15.1%, 11.3% and 8.9% of the total outward investment respectively. Of the total amount, US$6.33 billion flowed into leasing and commercial service industry, up 43.2% year on year, making it the industry with the highest investment growth rate.

Third, the number of newly-signed large overseas contracted projects increased. In January-February, 115 projects whose contract value was over US$50 million were newly signed, increasing by 29 year on year, and accounted for 83.9% of the total value of the newly-signed contracts, mainly in the field of transportation construction, power engineering construction, general construction project, communication engineering construction and petrochemical project. 

 

Head of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce Introduces the Development of China’s Trade in Services in January-February

On March 31, head of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce introduced the development of China's trade in services in January-February.

In January-February, affected by COVID-19, China's trade in services declined, but the trade deficit continued to shrink as started last year, and its structure was improved. In January-February, the total import and export volume of services was 740.31 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), down 11.6% year on year. More specifically, the export volume was 275.07 billion yuan, down 6%; the import volume was 465.23 billion yuan, down 14.6%. The main characteristics are as follows.

The deficit of trade in services continued to shrink.

In January-February, China's service imports and exports showed a downward trend, but the decline in total service export volume was 8.6 percentage points less than that in import volume. The deficit of trade in services shrank by 24.6% to 190.16 billion yuan and decreased by 62.09 billion yuan year on year.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services showed strong resistance to impacts.

In January-February, China’s import and export volume of knowledge-intensive services was 276.57 billion yuan, up 1%, and accounted for 37.4% of the total import and export volume of services, up 4.7 percentage points. Of the total amount, the export volume of knowledge-intensive services was 159.18 billion yuan, up 5%, and accounted for 57.9% of the total service export volume, up 6.1 percentage points. The export volume of telecommunication, computer and information services, intellectual property royalties, and other business services increased by 5.7%, 41.3% and 1.3% respectively; the import volume of knowledge-intensive services was 117.39 billion yuan, down 4%, and accounted for 25.2% of the total service import volume, up 2.8 percentage points.

Imports and exports in some service fields were significantly affected by the epidemic.

In January-February, the import and export volume of travel services was 256.33 billion yuan, down 23.1%. The import and export volume of transportation services was 146.31 billion yuan, down 4.4%. The import and export volume of construction services was 28.82 billion yuan, down 28.4%.

 

Trade information from China Customs Analyze - 12th March

Affected by the COVID-19 pneumonia and the extension of Spring Festival holidays, the import and export of China's foreign trade decreased significantly in the first 2 months of this year. According to customs statistics, in the first two months of this year, China's total import and export value of goods trade was 4.12 trillion yuan, down 9.6% year on year. Among them, export was 2.04 trillion yuan, down 15.9%; import was 2.08 trillion yuan, down 2.4%. According to the relevant person in charge of the General Administration of customs, in terms of freight volume, the inbound and outbound freight volume supervised by the customs in the first two months was 700 million tons, an increase of 2.8% year on year, of which 190 million tons were exported, a decrease of 3.7% and 510 million tons were imported, an increase of 5.5%. In the first two months, the export price fell by 1.3% year on year, and the import price rose by 0.1% year on year, indicating that China's economic and trade has strong resilience and inertia.

In the case of overall decline, there are still many new highlights in China's foreign trade import and export in the first two months, and the positive factors for stable growth of foreign trade are also gathering.

ASEAN and the " Belt and Road" countries still keep growing in imports and exports

Customs statistics show that in the first two months, imports and exports to traditional trading partners such as the European Union, the United States and Japan fell. The import and export to ASEAN reached 594.11 billion yuan, an increase of 2%. ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner.

Over the same period, the total number import and export to "Belt and Road" countries and regions increased 1 trillion and 300 billion yuan, up 1.8% from the same period last year, which is 11.4 percentage points higher than China's foreign trade growth rate, accounting for 31.7%, and the proportion exceeds 30%. With one belt, one road, the economic and trade cooperation deepens the space for China's foreign trade development and plays an important supporting role in stabilizing China's foreign trade basic plate.

Private enterprises are relatively more active in foreign trade import and export

Customs statistics show that in the first two months, the import and export of private enterprises reached 1.7 trillion yuan, accounting for 41.9% of the total import and export value, up 1.3 percentage points year on year. The increase of the proportion of import and export of private enterprises reflects the continuous optimization of the domestic business environment, which is an important manifestation of the endogenous power and development vitality of China's foreign trade.

Rapid growth in import of bulk commodities and key consumer goods

According to customs statistics, in the first two months, imports of bulk commodities such as iron ore, crude oil, coal and natural gas increased by 1.5%, 5.2%, 33.1% and 2.8% respectively. During the same period, the import value of agricultural products increased by 6.8%, of which the import of soybeans increased by 14.2% and the import of pork increased by 1.6 times, which effectively guaranteed the stability of market supply and the price of key people's livelihood commodities before and after the Spring Festival.

Although the COVID-19 pneumonia has a certain impact on foreign trade in the short term, the development of China's foreign trade is strong, and its adaptability and market development ability are strong. The impact of the epidemic on import and export is temporary and phased. The trend of long-term development of foreign trade has not changed.

 

Source：Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China, China Customs