China Trade +32.8% Sep 2021

The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) released on October 13th the international trade figures in September and the first 9-month period of this year.

According to the bulletin, the international trade in September was USD 545 billion, among which USD 306 billion of exports and USD 239 billion of imports. The monthly trade surplus was USD 67 billion. Trade in September increased by 2.7% compared to August and by 23.3% compared to September 2020.

GACC also published the cumulative figures in the first 9-month period: total international trade reached USD 4,374 billion (+32.8% compared to the same period in 2020). The value of the exported goods increased by 33% compared to the nine months in 2020 (USD 2,401 billion), and imports grew by 32.6% (USD 1,973 billion), leading to a trade surplus of USD 428 billion (USD 326 in 2020).

RCEP members, consisting of the ten ASEAN countries plus South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, account for 31.1% of total Chinese trade. European Union is the second partner (13.7% of total Chinese trade), followed by the United States (12.4%).

The first trading partner of China among the EU members is Germany, with USD 172 billion of goods flows, followed by the Netherlands (USD 82 billion), France (USD 62 billion), and Italy (USD 53 billion). Trading flows between China and Italy increased by 36.3%, thanks to the significant growth of Chinese imports from Italy (+47.3% compared to the same period in 2020).

China is confirmed to be the first economy by international trade in 2020, reaching a record-high amount of USD 4,646 billion (+1.5% compared to 2019), USD 2,590 billion exports (+3.6% compared to 2019), and USD 2,055 billion imports (-1.1% compared to 2019).