Yesterday, Wenzhou Customs released the city's foreign trade import and export data for the first two months of this year: The total import and export value was 34.34 billion yuan, an increase of 36.4% over the same period last year (the same below). Among them, exports were 30.05 billion yuan, an increase of 45.5%; imports were 4.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%; and the trade surplus was 25.76 billion yuan.
Since the beginning of this year, the city’s imports and exports have returned to their pre-epidemic levels, with steady growth. However, the customs said that in fact, due to the severe impact of the epidemic at the beginning of 2020, the foreign trade base during the same period was low, and the growth rate from January to February does not fully reflect the actual development of foreign trade. Compared with the city’s total import and export value of 26.52 billion yuan, exports of 23.05 billion yuan, and imports of 3.46 billion yuan in 2019 before the epidemic, Wenzhou’s total import and export value increased by 29.5% in the first two months of this year, of which exports increased by 30.4%. The growth rate was 23.8%, and the average annual growth rate of the three was 13.8%, 14.2% and 11.4%, respectively. The growth rate has stabilized.
Among them, mechanical and electrical products are driving export growth, but Wenzhou's traditional export products such as shoes, boots, clothing, luggage and bags have declined. Data show that from January to February, Wenzhou exported 16.13 billion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 59%, accounting for 53.7% of the city's total export value during the same period. Among them, the export of fasteners was 160 million yuan, an increase of 82.6%; the export of electronic components was 180 million yuan, an increase of 1.7 times; the export of household appliances was 590 million yuan, an increase of 82.6%. During the same period, the export of Laomi products was 10.36 billion yuan, an increase of 24.9%. Among them, the export of textile yarns, fabrics and products increased by 93%.
In terms of imports, the import of major industrial raw materials has fallen sharply, and the import of consumer goods such as tobacco and alcohol, daily chemical products, cultural and entertainment products has increased rapidly. From January to February, Wenzhou imported 1.38 billion yuan of ferroalloys, down 37.8%, accounting for 32.2% of the total import value during the same period; imported 55.248 million yuan of steel, down 85.3%; imported 280 million yuan of plastics in primary shapes, down 69.4%, accounting for 6.5%. In the same period, the import of consumer goods was 800 million yuan, an increase of 2.8 times, accounting for 18.6%.
From the perspective of the import and export market, exports to the member states of the RCEP Agreement (ie, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) have grown rapidly, and exports to the United States have doubled. From January to February, Wenzhou’s exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” were 13.37 billion yuan, an increase of 45.0%, exports to ASEAN were 4.90 billion yuan, an increase of 60.3%, and the EU (excluding the United Kingdom) was 6.52 billion yuan, an increase of 28.8%. Exports to the Middle East were 3.01 billion yuan, an increase of 30.6%, and Wenzhou’s exports to RCEP free trade agreement member states were 6.53 billion yuan, an increase of 63.3%, which was 13.2 percentage points higher than the province’s export growth rate. Exports to the United States were 4.15 billion yuan, an increase of 99.0%. In addition, the city's imports from ASEAN and the countries along the "Belt and Road" have dropped significantly, and imports from Australia have dropped by nearly 90%.