China's foreign trade up 8.8% in first five months

BEIJING - China's goods trade rose 8.8 percent year on year to 11.63 trillion yuan ($1.82 trillion) in the first five months, customs data showed Friday.

Exports rose 5.5 percent year-on-year to 6.14 trillion yuan in the January-May period while imports grew 12.6 percent to 5.49 trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus of 649.8 billion yuan, which narrowed by 31 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In May, the goods trade surplus shrank by 43.1 percent to 156.5 billion yuan, as exports rose 3.2 percent year-on-year to 1.34 trillion yuan, while imports surged 15.6 percent to 1.19 trillion yuan, according to the GAC.

In the first five months, exports and imports of products under the general trade category surged 12.7 percent year on year to 6.84 trillion yuan, accounting for 58.8 percent of the total foreign trade volume, 2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road registered faster-than-average growth, with the trade volume standing at 3.21 trillion yuan, up 11.1 percent year-on-year.

The country's trade with other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries saw growth of 10.3 percent during the January-May period.

Chinese private enterprises played a bigger role in trade by contributing 38.9 percent to total trade, up 1 percentage point compared with the same period last year.

Exports and imports made by foreign-funded companies totaled 4.95 trillion yuan, up 4.3 percent, contributing 42.6 percent of the total foreign trade volume during the January-May period.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products rose 7.9 percent year-on-year to 3.61 trillion yuan, accounting for 58.8 percent of the total value of exports.

In contrast, exports of traditional labor-intensive products dropped 4.1 percent to 1.13 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.4 percent of the total.

China imported 36.4 percent more natural gas compared with last year in the first five months, while the average price jumped 13.3 percent.