China’s foreign trade and exports from the country stopped declining

Almaty. July 14. Silkroadnews – China’s foreign trade and exports from the country stopped declining and increased in Q2 of 2016, Xinhua reported.

“In the second quarter of this year, China’s foreign trade and exports from the country stopped their negative growth and increased by 0.1% and 1.2% respectively. Despite a 1.2% decrease in the volume of imports, the decline amplitude turned to be 7.2 percentage points lower compared to Q1”, the statement said.

According to General Administration of Customs spokesman Huang Songping, the foreign trade stabilization trend is related to such factors as optimization of internal trade policy and international trade environment, continuous expansion of bilateral and multilateral trade and economic cooperation, slowdown in decline of prices for basic commodities and global trade’s slight “warming”.

“In January-June of this year, exports from China to Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, India and Egypt, grew by 22.5%, 16.6%, 9%, 7.8% and 4.7% respectively. China’s import-export, export and import volumes with partner countries under free trade agreements turned to be better compared to the results of the country’s foreign trade as a whole,” Xinhua notes.

However, experts warn, in Q3 China’s exports will once again face the pressure of the downward trend. According to the survey conducted by the Chinese customs among more than 2,600 companies, 67.6% of respondents recognized the sluggish demand by the global market as a number one challenge for the Chinese import-export companies.

Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, points out that to stabilize the foreign trade in the second half of the year focus shall be made on encouraging the export of exclusive equipment and strengthening the advantages available in traditional industries.