Official data showed that China’s foreign trade rebounded in May, with total imports and exports rising 9.6% year on year to 3.45 trillion yuan, 0.1% higher than the expansion achieved in April.
In the first five months of 2022, the country’s foreign trade volume grew 8.3 percent year on year to 16.04 trillion yuan, outstripping the growth of 7.9 percent in the January-April period, according to the General Administration of Customs.
Foreign trade totaled 2.51 trillion US dollars in the five-month period, up 10.3 percent year on year.
Customs data showed that in the first five months, exports grew 11.4 percent year on year while imports rose 4.7 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.84 trillion yuan.
During this period, China’s trade with its three largest trading partners – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, and the United States – expanded by 8.1%, 7%, and 10.1% from last year, respectively.
From January to May, China’s trade with Belt and Road countries jumped 16.8 percent year on year to 5.11 trillion yuan.
Private enterprises registered faster growth, with their imports and exports rising 11.8 percent to 7.86 trillion yuan in the first five months, accounting for 49 percent of the country’s total, an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the same period last year.
Customs data showed that in terms of types of goods, exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 7% to account for 57.2% of the total, while labor-intensive products increased by 11.6% in the first five months.