China's trade with countries along B&R grows fast: GAC

Spokesperson from General Administration of Customs, Huang Songping speaks at a news conference in Beijing, on October 13, 2017. [Photo: China.com.cn] 

New data shows China's goods trade remains "sound and steady" in the first three quarters of 2017.

The same set of data suggests the country's trade with countries along the Belt and Road has grown faster than average, contributing a large share to that steady growth.

CRI's Guan Chao has more.

Official data released on Friday shows that China's goods trade volume rose 17-percent to over 20-trillion yuan in the first three quarters of this year.

The General Administration of Customs released a statement, saying that exports increased some 12-percent, while imports surged over 22-percent from January to September.

According to GAC's spokesperson, Huang Songping, trade with traditional markets witnessed a full recovery, while trade with countries along the "Belt and Road" is growing rapidly.

"In the first three quarters, China's trade with the EU, US and Japan grew by 16-percent, 19-percent, and 15-percent respectively, accounting for nearly 37-percent of the total trade volume. In the same period, China's trade with Russia, Poland, and Kazakhstan each grew by 28-percent, 25-percent, and 41-percent."

Huang added that trade volume for private enterprises also increased, as their combined volume rose nearly 18-percent, compared with the share for the same period of last year.

Speaking of the reason for the sound momentum, the spokesperson attributed it to the uplifting world recovery and favorable domestic environment as well as the rolling out of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, which brings together more than 60 countries in economic, social and cultural cooperation.

"The Belt and Road initiative helped pushed the trade volume. The on-going implementation of Belt and Road initiative and international capacity cooperation provides wide space for the continuous growth of China's foreign trade. In the first three quarters, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road grew by 20-percent, higher than the average level of 3.5-percent, marking an outstanding contribution."

When asked about the changes in China's trade in recent years, Huang highlighted the improved structure and growing domestic impetus against the backdrop of the sluggish recovery of world economy since 2013.

In addition, he points out that the Belt and Road also unleashed new power.

"In 2013, construction along the Belt and Road started from scratch and kept expanding ever since, injecting new vitality to China's trade development. In 2013 and 2014, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road remained higher than its average level. Such momentum remained even when China's overall trade level dropped 0.9-percent in 2016."

Meanwhile, Huang acknowledged that some unfavorable factors such as an unstable world market indeed led to a fall of trade volume in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, but he observed that the trade volume will continue to grow in the final quarter, and may register double-digit growth in the full year.

For CRI, I'm Guan Chao.