Innovation, huge mkt buffer uncertainties

China's solid economic fundamentals and innovation-driven momentum — together with its huge market and complete industrial system — will continue to support stable and resilient foreign trade growth in the next phase, said a senior government official on Monday.

Despite mounting global economic instability and the rise of unilateralism and protectionism this year, Wang Jun, vice-minister of the General Administration of Customs, said China, as a key force in ensuring the smooth functioning of global production and supply chains, has continued to benefit from the positive effects of its incremental policy measures.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, Wang said that with Chinese exporters increasingly matching high-quality supply to global demand, these trends will provide lasting momentum for the country's export growth.

His remarks came as data showed China's foreign trade grew 4 percent year-on-year to 33.61 trillion yuan ($4.71 trillion) in the first three quarters, according to data released by the administration on Monday.

Exports rose 7.1 percent year-on-year to 19.95 trillion yuan between January and September, while imports dipped 0.2 percent to 13.66 trillion yuan during the same period.

Liang Ming, director of the Institute of International Trade at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said such steady performance reflects the growing completeness, agility and efficiency of China's production and supply chains.

China's rapid expansion of industrial clusters for tech-intensive green products — such as electric vehicles and solar cells — will further strengthen the country's export foundation and bolster long-term growth, said Liang.

In September alone, China's imports and exports totaled 4.04 trillion yuan, up 8 percent on a yearly basis.

Noting that certain countries have arbitrarily imposed tariffs, disrupting the global trade order since the beginning of this year, Lyu Daliang, director of the GAC's department of statistics and analysis, said such practices have drawn broad opposition from the international community.

"China has always firmly supported and upheld the multilateral trading system, promoted the stability and smooth functioning of global industrial and supply chains, and injected certainty and stability into global economic growth," said Lyu.

In the first three quarters, the number of Chinese companies engaged in import and export activities reached 700,000 for the first time, surpassing the total for the whole of last year.

As market diversification continues to advance, China's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Latin America, Africa and Central Asia rose 9.6 percent, 3.9 percent, 19.5 percent and 16.7 percent year-on-year, respectively, from January to September, according to Customs data.

Wang Danping, head of the foreign trade unit at Garmin China Yangzhou Co Ltd — a manufacturer of automotive information systems and smart watches in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province — said that confronted with frequent changes in US trade policy, her company has moved swiftly this year to embrace intelligent transformation and expand into more diversified overseas markets.

"Based on the consumption habits and characteristics of emerging markets, we invested in new product lines and positioned professional sports watches as our flagship products for markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East," said Wang Danping.

The company's exports achieved rapid growth in the first three quarters, reaching more than 66 million yuan, soaring 700 percent year-on-year, statistics from Nanjing Customs showed.

Amid a global trend toward lighter and higher-performance bicycles, Ningbo Topright Leisure Products Co Ltd, a Ningbo, Zhejiang province-based bicycle manufacturer, has leveraged its self-developed manufacturing process to reduce product weight while maintaining strength, successfully tapping into mid to high-end markets in Europe, Japan and Australia.

"European consumers' perception of 'Made in China' is changing. It is no longer driven by price but increasingly value innovation and sustainability," said Ai Ni, the company's foreign trade manager. "That shift has encouraged more European distributors to proactively approach us."

The company's exports to Europe and emerging markets surged 26 percent year-on-year to 70 million yuan in the first nine months, said Ningbo Customs.