General Administration of Customs: China's export volume exceeded 6 trillion yuan in the first quarter, showing strong resilience under pressure

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on April 14, the Information Office of the State Council held a regular press conference on economic data for the first quarter at 10 a.m. Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs, introduced the import and export situation in the first quarter of 2025 and answered questions from reporters. Director Lu Daliang of the Department of Statistical Analysis said at the conference that in the first quarter, China's export scale exceeded 6 trillion yuan, achieving a relatively rapid growth of 6.9%, showing strong resilience under pressure.

According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of this year, China's goods trade imports and exports amounted to 10.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.3% over the same period last year (same below). Among them, exports amounted to 6.13 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.9%; imports amounted to 4.17 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6%. Specifically, it has the following four main characteristics:

First, the import and export growth rate is picking up month by month. In the first quarter, China's import and export volume reached a record high for the same period, exceeding 10 trillion yuan for 8 consecutive quarters. Looking at monthly trends, imports and exports fell 2.2% in January, remained flat in February, and increased by 6% in March.

Second, the share of private enterprises in imports and exports has increased. In the first quarter, China's private enterprises imported and exported 5.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.8%, accounting for 56.8% of China's total import and export value, an increase of 2.4 percentage points over the same period last year. In the same period, imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises amounted to 2.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.4%, accounting for 29% of the total import and export value.

Third, the growth rate of imports and exports to the joint “Belt and Road” countries is higher than the overall rate. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports to the “Belt and Road” countries were 5.26 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.2%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the overall value, accounting for 51.1% of the total import and export value. Among them, imports and exports to ASEAN amounted to 1.71 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1%.

Fourth, imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products are growing rapidly. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products amounted to 5.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7%. Among them, exports are growing relatively fast, such as household appliances, laptop computers, electronic components, etc.; imports are growing faster, such as automatic data processing equipment parts, ships, and marine engineering equipment.

Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, pointed out that private enterprises are the largest foreign trade players in China. In the first quarter, private enterprise imports and exports increased by 5.8%, which is 4.5 percentage points faster than the country's overall import and export growth rate. While the scale of foreign trade is growing rapidly, the quality of development is also constantly improving. Private enterprises have achieved growth in imports and exports to nearly 180 countries and regions around the world. Imports and exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America increased by 7.4%, 9.6%, and 5.2%, respectively; to traditional markets such as the European Union and Japan, increased by 7.1% and 4.8%, respectively.

The transcript is as follows:

Xing Huina, Deputy Director of the Information Bureau of the Information Office of the State Council and press spokesman:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the press conference of the Information Office of the State Council. Today, we will routinely release economic data. We invited Mr. Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs, to brief everyone on the import and export situation in the first quarter of this year and answer everyone's concerns. Also attending today's press conference was Mr. Lu Daliang, press spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Statistical Analysis Department.

Now, let's ask Mr. Wang Lingjun to introduce the situation.

Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Customs:

Good morning, presenters and friends! First, I will brief you on China's import and export situation in the first quarter of this year, then I and my colleague Comrade Lu Daliang will answer the questions you are interested in.

Since this year, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, China has adhered to the general tone of steady progress, fully and accurately implemented the new development concept, accelerated the construction of a new development pattern, and solidly promoted high-quality development. Various stock policies and incremental policies have continued to show results, the economy has started steadily, and the development trend is moving forward. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of this year, China's goods trade imports and exports amounted to 10.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.3% over the same period last year (same below). Among them, exports amounted to 6.13 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.9%; imports amounted to 4.17 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6%. Specifically, it has the following four main characteristics:

First, the import and export growth rate is picking up month by month. In the first quarter, China's import and export volume reached a record high for the same period, exceeding 10 trillion yuan for 8 consecutive quarters. Looking at monthly trends, imports and exports fell 2.2% in January, remained flat in February, and increased by 6% in March.

Second, the share of private enterprises in imports and exports has increased. In the first quarter, China's private enterprises imported and exported 5.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.8%, accounting for 56.8% of China's total import and export value, an increase of 2.4 percentage points over the same period last year. In the same period, imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises amounted to 2.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.4%, accounting for 29% of the total import and export value.

Third, the growth rate of imports and exports to the joint “Belt and Road” countries is higher than the overall rate. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports to the “Belt and Road” countries were 5.26 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.2%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the overall value, accounting for 51.1% of the total import and export value. Among them, imports and exports to ASEAN amounted to 1.71 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1%.

Fourth, imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products are growing rapidly. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products amounted to 5.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7%. Among them, exports are growing relatively fast, such as household appliances, laptop computers, electronic components, etc.; imports are growing faster, such as automatic data processing equipment parts, ships, and marine engineering equipment.

Overall, in the face of increasing external difficulties and challenges, various departments in various regions and a large number of foreign trade operators responded positively to push China's foreign trade imports and exports to a smooth start in the first quarter.

Recently, the US government's misuse of tariffs has inevitably had a negative impact on global trade, including China and the US. China resolutely implemented necessary countermeasures as soon as possible, not only to protect its own legitimate rights and interests, but also to defend international trade rules and international fairness and justice. China will unswervingly promote a high level of opening-up to the outside world and develop mutually beneficial and win-win economic and trade cooperation with other countries.

Customs will resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, strictly implement all countermeasures against the US in accordance with the law based on customs duties, and safeguard the country's sovereignty, security and development interests. Accelerate the construction of smart customs and international cooperation, innovate customs supervision systems, continuously improve the efficiency and service level of supervision, promote convenient customs clearance for enterprises, and promote the stable development of foreign trade with the actual results of better supervision, higher safety, greater convenience, and stricter anti-smuggling. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

Thanks to Deputy Director Wang Lingjun for his introduction. Now let's move on to the questioning session and ask media reporters to raise their hands. Please inform your news agency before asking questions.

First Financial Correspondent:

I just introduced that the import and export data for the first quarter achieved steady growth. What are the highlights and positive changes in China's foreign trade sector since this year? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Since this year, with insufficient momentum for world economic growth, increased trade protectionism, and geopolitical tension, the scale of China's foreign trade imports and exports has grown steadily, and the quality of development has also been steadily improving, showing positive changes in these four areas:

First, the activity of business entities has further increased. In the first quarter, the number of enterprises with import and export performance in China reached 529,000, an increase of 33,000 over the same period last year. Among them, the number of private enterprises reached a record high for the same period, reaching 455,000, accounting for 86.1% of the total number of enterprises with import and export performance during the same period.

Second, the space for external cooperation has been further expanded. In the first quarter, China's trade with traditional markets maintained strong resilience, and imports and exports to Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom all achieved relatively rapid growth. High-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road” continues to grow deeper and more practical. The growth rate of imports and exports to the co-building countries was 0.9 percentage points higher than the overall rate. Among them, it increased by 7.1% to ASEAN and 6.9% to the five Central Asian countries.

Third, the layout of regional openness has been further optimized. China's central and western regions continue to give full play to their advantages, undertake industrial transfers in an orderly manner, and further unleash their potential for foreign trade. In the first quarter, imports and exports from the central and western regions reached 1.84 trillion yuan, up 8.7%. The growth rate was 7.4 percentage points higher than the country's overall growth rate. The share of the country's imports and exports also increased 1.2 percentage points to 17.9% over the same period last year.

Fourth, the “new content” of foreign trade has further increased. The development of new quality productivity has been accelerated, and a number of upstream and downstream enterprises in the equipment industry chain with strong supporting capabilities and excellent product performance have been cultivated, and China's foreign trade is moving towards “new.” In the first quarter, imports and exports of equipment manufacturing products increased by 7.6%, accounting for “half” of foreign trade imports and exports. Guochao's new products continue to be launched, and the export scale and share of own-brand products continues to rise year by year. It continued to grow by 10.2% in the first quarter, and its share in the total export value further increased to 22.8%. Thank you.

Dazhong News Dazhong Daily Reporter:

In recent years, ASEAN has maintained the status of China's number one trading partner. Can you give us a detailed introduction to the import and export situation between China and ASEAN in the first quarter of this year? What are the prospects for future trade between China and ASEAN? Thank you.

Lu Daliang, press spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistical Analysis:

Thank you to this journalist friend for the question. China and ASEAN live close to each other. Over the years, they have given full play to their respective resource advantages and industrial structure, cooperated closely and moved forward hand in hand. Economic and trade relations have become increasingly close, and trade complementarity has also continued to increase. In the first quarter of this year, ASEAN continued to position itself as China's largest trading partner, with imports and exports of 1.71 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year, and its share of China's overall foreign trade rose to 16.6%.

China and ASEAN are jointly committed to the integrated development of the regional economy. The industrial chains of the two sides are closely linked, which has led to rapid growth in the import and export of upstream and downstream products. In the first quarter, manufacturing products accounted for 90.1% of trade between China and ASEAN. Among them, China's exports of flat panel display modules, auto parts, and lithium batteries to ASEAN all grew by more than 20%; China's imports of automatic data processing equipment components, printed circuits, textile raw materials, etc. from ASEAN continued to grow.

The combined population of China and the 10 ASEAN countries is over 2 billion, accounting for about 1/4 of the world. Their open integration and common development have continuously unleashed market potential and set a model for cooperation at a time when globalization is facing headwinds. Take cooperation in the agricultural sector as an example. Since 2017, ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for agricultural products for 8 consecutive years. In the first quarter of this year, China imported 52.65 billion yuan of agricultural products from ASEAN, an increase of 13.8%, and exports of agricultural products to ASEAN amounted to 37.92 billion yuan, an increase of 1.4%. Both sides' superior agricultural products meet each other's diverse needs.

We are steadily advancing the construction of infrastructure connectivity with ASEAN, making trade more smooth, and transforming the resource advantages of both sides into tangible economic results. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports to ASEAN by rail, highway, water and air transport increased by 37%, 23.2%, 5.8%, and 16.4%, respectively. Since the China-Lao Railway has been in operation for more than three years, it has operated more than 50,000 freight trains. The new land and sea corridors in the west are seamlessly connected, making it possible to “get on the train when you get off the ship, and board the ship when you get off the train.”

We are connected by landscape and culture with ASEAN, and have a long history of friendly exchanges. Currently, negotiations on the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area have been substantially completed. The two sides will expand mutually beneficial cooperation in emerging fields such as the digital economy, green economy, and supply chain connectivity, strengthen mutual integration and interoperability in the fields of standards and rules, and jointly promote trade facilitation and inclusive development. We believe that with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, economic and trade cooperation between the two sides will surely usher in new and greater development. Thank you.

China Central Radio and Television Reporter:

China Central Radio and Television Reporter: This year's “Report on the Work of the Government” emphasizes “Strongly encouraging foreign investment.” I just mentioned that the imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises continued to grow in the first quarter. Please explain the relevant situation in detail. Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. Foreign-funded enterprises are important participants in Chinese-style modernization, important participants in China's reform, opening-up, innovation and creativity, and important participants in connecting the world and integrating China into economic globalization. Data shows that in the past five years, the cumulative import and export share of foreign-invested enterprises in China's foreign trade is about 1/3.

Looking at the first quarter of this year, there were more than 67,000 foreign-funded enterprises with import and export performance, a record high for the same period in the past three years; foreign-funded enterprises imported and exported 2.99 trillion yuan, achieving growth for 4 consecutive quarters. Among them, imports and exports of high-tech products such as electronic information products, biomedicine, and medical devices remained above 40% of the country.

Currently, restrictions on foreign investment entry in China's manufacturing sector have been completely lifted, green, digital, and intelligent transformation is being accelerated, and the market-based, rule-of-law, and world-class business environment is constantly being improved. These will help foreign-funded enterprises to fully demonstrate their advantages and gain a head start in global competition. On March 28, President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community and delivered an important speech, which greatly boosted confidence in foreign investment. Recently, the 2025 annual meeting of the China Development High-Level Forum was held in Beijing, attracting 86 official representatives of multinational enterprises from 21 countries. The number of multinational enterprises attending the conference for the first time also reached a new high. There is a consensus that many foreign-funded enterprises are optimistic about China. Thank you.

Phoenix TV Reporter:

At the time of the introduction, Director Wang described foreign trade as pressing ahead in the first quarter. Facing many difficulties and challenges, exports still achieved 6.9% growth. I would like to ask what are the driving forces of export growth? Facing the current tariff war, against the backdrop of increasing challenges and pressures, what are the expectations for the next phase of exports? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. Exports in the first quarter have indeed shown strong resilience under pressure. Comrade Lu Daliang is invited to analyze this for everyone.

Lu Da-liang:

Thank you to this reporter friend for the question. I would like to give a detailed introduction to the situation of China's exports in the first quarter.

In the first quarter, China's export scale exceeded 6 trillion yuan, achieving a relatively rapid growth of 6.9%, showing strong resilience under pressure. We believe it can be viewed from several aspects of demand, innovation, and competitiveness:

In terms of international market demand, in the first quarter, the average global manufacturing PMI was 49.9%, higher than the fourth quarter of last year, and higher than the same period last year. Among them, the manufacturing industry in Asia and Africa was expanding in March. According to customs data, China's exports to the above regions increased by 7.8% and 12.5% respectively, and the growth rate was higher than the overall rate. Consumer spending in the EU and the UK increased month-on-month, and the consumer confidence index was also relatively stable, driving demand for our products in these markets. In the first quarter, China's exports to more than 170 countries and regions grew.

In terms of domestic industrial innovation, there is strong momentum for the high-end, intelligent, and green transformation of Chinese manufacturing. For example, China's exports of ships and offshore engineering equipment maintained a growth trend for 4 consecutive years and continued to grow by 10.8% in the first quarter; exports of special equipment grew for 9 consecutive years, with an increase of 16.2% in the first quarter. China's new energy products continue to play an important role in the global green transformation. In the first quarter, exports of wind turbines, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, etc. increased by 43.2%, 18.8%, and 8.2% respectively.

At the same time, the vast majority of foreign trade operators respond quickly to the diverse needs of the global market. With the advantages of complete facilities, rapid transformation and upgrading, and flexible operation, some traditional industries also continue to launch “new products,” “trendy products,” and “explosive products” to promote “renewal” of competitiveness. In industries such as toys and clothing, the delivery cycle has been drastically reduced from 1 month to less than 1 week through the “small order quick reverse” model of small orders, multiple batches, and quick response, significantly improving international competitiveness. In the field of consumer goods, trendy domestic products are also constantly emerging, and have won wide recognition and praise all over the world. In the first quarter, China's exports of sporting goods to the European Union and cosmetics exports to Southeast Asia all increased by double digits.

Currently, China's exports are indeed facing a complicated and serious external situation, but “the sky will not collapse.” In recent years, China has actively built diversified markets and deepened industrial chain supply chain cooperation with various parties. This has not only empowered each other's development, but also enhanced our own resilience. At the same time, China's domestic demand market is vast, and it is an important backbone. We will unswervingly do our own business well and deal with the uncertainty of the external environment with our own certainty. Thank you.

Bloomberg News Reporter:

I have two questions. The first one is that the WTO now predicts that trade volume will drop by 1% this year, which is lower than the 3% increase predicted earlier. Do you agree with this prediction? My second question is, what impact will the US imposition of tariffs have on China?

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. As I mentioned earlier, the US government recently abused tariffs on a global scale and went against the trend, which has not only been widely opposed by the countries concerned, but also attracted criticism and opposition from international organizations. The WTO immediately issued a statement, believing that America's approach will have a significant impact on global trade and economic growth prospects, leading to a contraction in global commodity trade volume, and calling on member states to unite and engage in constructive dialogue through the WTO platform to find cooperative solutions. China will work with all parties to adhere to true multilateralism, jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and safeguard international fairness and justice. Thank you.

Elephant News Reporter:

We have noticed that the imports and exports of private enterprises maintained relatively rapid growth in the first quarter. What are the specific highlights? The private enterprise symposium held at the beginning of this year emphasized that private enterprises should unswervingly follow the path of high-quality development. What work has the Customs done to support the development of private enterprises? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. Private enterprises are the largest foreign trade players in China. Only when private enterprises are dynamic can foreign trade have momentum. In the first quarter, imports and exports of private enterprises increased by 5.8%, faster than the country's overall import and export growth rate of 4.5 percentage points, accounting for 56.8%. While the scale of foreign trade is growing rapidly, the quality of development is also constantly improving.

In the first quarter, private enterprises achieved growth in imports and exports to nearly 180 countries and regions around the world. In emerging markets, imports and exports to ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America increased by 7.4%, 9.6%, and 5.2% respectively; in traditional markets, imports and exports to the EU increased by 7.1% and 4.8% to Japan.

At the same time, private enterprises have become an important force in scientific and technological innovation in China. From low-cost and high-IQ artificial intelligence open source models to mechanical dancers on the Spring Festival Gala stage, private enterprises have shown an aggressive attitude of innovation. Everyone should remember that at the Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve, robots that twirk songs became the focus of much attention. They collaborated tacitly with human dancers to perform a visual and technological feast.

In the field of foreign trade, in the first quarter, the import and export of high-tech products by private enterprises reached a record high during the same period, with a scale close to 1 trillion yuan, maintaining the position of the largest importers and exports. Among them, exports of industrial robots increased by 67.4%, high-end machine tools increased by 16.4%; imported high-end equipment increased by 25.6%, and surgical robots increased by 47.5%.

Customs resolutely implements the “two unwavering”, deepens reforms, innovates supervision systems, and actively helps private enterprises stabilize expectations, seize orders, and expand markets. Take AEO certification, commonly known as the “green pass” for global trade, as an example. Customs continues to step up efforts to cultivate private enterprises in key areas, so that more enterprises can clear customs “one step faster” and trade costs “better than others.” In the first three months of the first quarter alone, the number of private enterprises certified by customs AEO increased by 116 to 2,670. In the first quarter, the exports and imports of AEO certified private enterprises increased by 8.6% and 8.5% respectively, 1.6 and 5 percentage points higher than the overall export and import growth rates of private enterprises, respectively. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency Finance Reporter:

From the data just reported, we have noticed another downward trend in imports this quarter. What is the reason? What do you think of future imports? Thank you.

Lu Da-liang:

Thank you to the reporter friend for the question. Regarding the import growth rate in the first quarter, it was the result of a combination of factors, with different commodities rising and falling. Among them, due to the fall in international commodity prices, the average import prices of China's iron ore and coal fell by more than 20% in the first quarter, and the average import prices of crude oil and soybeans also fell by 5.7% and 16.6%, respectively. These price factors affected the overall import growth rate by 2.6 percentage points. Furthermore, compared with last year, there were 2 fewer working days in the first quarter of this year. This factor also affected the import growth rate by about 2 percentage points.

Looking at it, domestic industrial production is growing rapidly, driving an increase in imports of parts and equipment. In March, China's manufacturing PMI continued to be in the expansion range, and the manufacturing boom level continued to rise. Among them, production demand in industries such as computer communication electronic equipment, railway ships, aerospace equipment, etc. was released relatively quickly, and imports of key components and high-tech equipment required by related industries generally increased. In the first quarter, China's imports of automatic data processing equipment parts, ships and marine engineering equipment increased by 95.6% and 52.5% respectively.

China's consumer market is stable and improving, which has also led to an increase in imports of consumer goods. The popularity of the domestic consumer market during the Spring Festival also fully demonstrated the vitality and vitality of China's consumer sector. In the first quarter, imports of some livelihood commodities increased. For example, the import value of cooking oil increased by 12.1%, and imports of dried and fresh melons and fruits increased by 8.3%.

China is the largest manufacturing country and the second largest consumer market in the world. It has a complete range of industries, a complete industrial system and strong supporting capacity. At the same time, we have a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of more than 400 million. Various consumption scenarios are booming. Whether in terms of industrial production or consumer consumption, the market demand is huge. In particular, China has always insisted on expanding a high level of openness to the outside world, expanding independent openness and unilateral openness in an orderly manner, actively expanding imports, and sharing development opportunities with countries around the world. We have maintained our position as the world's second-largest importer for 16 consecutive years, with an average annual growth rate of 5.4%, and our share of global imports has also steadily increased from 7.9% to 10.5%. There is huge room for growth in China's imports now and for some time to come, and China's big market will always be a big opportunity for the world. Thank you.

Hong Kong Economic Report Reporter:

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. Please tell me about the import and export situation between China and Europe in the next quarter? What are your expectations for trade trends between China and Europe? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. China and the EU are each other's most important trading partners. The bilateral trade volume has gone from 2.4 billion US dollars at the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations to 780 billion US dollars now. In the first quarter of this year, China's imports and exports to the European Union reached 1.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.4%, which is equivalent to more than 10 million yuan of trade transactions per minute.

The economies of China and Europe are highly complementary and their interests are closely integrated, promoting the continued positive development of bilateral trade. Looking at the three fields, let's first look at the consumer goods sector. In the first quarter, 72% of China's imports of bags, 51.7% of passenger cars, and 42.2% of cosmetics all came from the European Union. China's exports of electronic appliances, clothing and clothing accessories, and daily necessities to the EU increased by 7.7%, 3%, and 16.1%, respectively. Looking at the high-tech sector, in the first quarter, China imported 64 billion yuan of high-end equipment from the European Union, an increase of 30.4%, accounting for 32.9% of China's total imports of similar products. China's exports of industrial robots and high-end machine tools to the EU increased by 81.9% and 11.7% respectively. Finally, looking at the agricultural sector, in the first quarter, China's imports of beer and pork from the EU increased by 25.7% and 17.5% respectively, while China's exports of aquatic products, dried melons and fruits to the EU increased by 34.4% and 10.8% respectively.

China and the EU together surpass one-third of the global economy. Both sides are proponents of economic globalization and trade liberalization, staunch supporters and supporters of the WTO, and have extensive common interests and huge scope for cooperation in many areas. In a situation of global economic instability and increasing uncertainties, China and Europe closely communicate and cooperate to jointly maintain free and open trade and investment, and maintain the stability and smooth flow of the global industrial chain supply chain. This will inject more stability and certainty into the two sides and the world economy. Thank you.

Poster News Reporter:

How was China's import and export performance with the “Belt and Road” countries in the first quarter of this year? What new initiatives does the General Administration of Customs have in promoting joint “Belt and Road” work? Thank you.

Lu Da-liang:

Thank you for your question. In the first quarter of this year, China's imports and exports with the “Belt and Road” countries were 5.26 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.2% over the previous year, and the scale reached a record high for the same period. The share of China's foreign trade surpassed 50% for the first time last year, and continued to rise in the first quarter of this year, reaching 51.1%.

A series of iconic projects and “small but beautiful” projects are grounded and benefit people's livelihood. They have taken root in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” countries, driving trade in related products. We have joined hands with co-building countries to deepen industrial cooperation. In the first quarter, intermediates accounted for 65.1% of imports and exports between China and the co-built countries. We continued to expand cooperation with the co-built countries in the agricultural sector. In the first quarter, China's exports of pesticide formulations to the co-built countries increased by 15.5% and agricultural machinery by 37.2%; imports of poultry meat from the co-built countries increased by 32.9%, and imports of dried and fresh melons and fruits increased by 8.5%. We actively carry out practical cooperation in the field of people's livelihood with the co-building country. In the first quarter, China's exports of medicinal materials and pharmaceuticals to the co-built countries increased by 14.6%, and medical instruments and devices increased by 5.1%. We support the continuous improvement of transportation and energy infrastructure conditions. In the first quarter, China's exports of rail transit equipment to the joint construction countries increased by 10.7%, exports of motors and generators increased by 17.4%, and exports of wind turbines increased by 67.4%.

Currently, the joint construction of the “Belt and Road Initiative” is the most extensive and large-scale international cooperation platform in the world. Combined, the co-building countries already account for more than 40% of global GDP, more than 50% of global exports, and their influence and voice in global governance is growing. The “Belt and Road”, a path of prosperity, openness, and innovation, has strongly unleashed the development potential of all countries and brought tangible benefits to the development and people's lives of the countries concerned.

This year, Customs will continue to be guided by the eight actions of high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, focusing on joint country building, actively promoting the “Smart Customs” partnership program and deepening institutional cooperation with the country's customs inspection and quarantine; continue to strongly support the construction of projects such as China-Europe trains, new land and sea corridors in the west, and “Silk Road Shipping”; continue to promote convenient customs clearance and safety; and promote high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road” to go deeper and more practical. Thank you.

US International Market News Reporter:

How much impact will the recent escalation of trade tension between China and the US have on Sino-US trade? Is there any possibility of decoupling in the trade sector? How will China respond?

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. On April 9, the Chinese government released the white paper “China's Position on Certain Issues Concerning Sino-US Economic and Trade Relations”. This white paper shows with numerous facts and data that the essence of Sino-US economic and trade relations is mutually beneficial and win-win, the result of economic laws, and has strong endogenous motivation. In the first quarter of this year, under the interference and impact of the US government's abusive tariffs, bilateral trade between China and the US continued to grow. The volume of imports and exports reached 1.11 trillion yuan, an increase of 4%.

The US announced abusive tariffs on all trading partners, including China, under various pretexts. As mentioned earlier, this will inevitably have a negative impact on global trade, including China and the US.

The US side's so-called “equal tariffs” disrupt the current international economic and trade order and put America's interests above the public interest of the international community. It is a typical act of tariff bullying. It seriously violates World Trade Organization rules, seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system, and seriously impacts the stability of the global economic order.

There are no winners in trade wars, and protectionism has no way out. The actions of the US government have aroused widespread opposition around the world. China has resolutely taken countermeasures, and will continue to work with all parties to jointly oppose US tariff bullying and overbearing behavior and jointly defend the multilateral trading system and economic globalization. We urge the US side to immediately correct its erroneous practices and resolve trade differences through dialogue on an equal footing in accordance with the principle of mutual respect. Thank you.

Zhonghong.com Reporter:

What I'm more concerned about is the export data for the central and western regions in the first quarter. What are the supporting factors in the central and western regions in terms of imports and exports? What role did the first quarter of this year play in the steady growth of the country's overall imports and exports? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

The Midwest's import and export results in the first quarter were very impressive. Comrade Lu Daliang was invited to respond.

Lu Da-liang:

Thank you to this reporter for the question. I will give a detailed introduction to the foreign trade import and export situation in the central and western regions in the first quarter. In terms of scale, imports and exports from the central and western regions in the first quarter were 1.84 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.7%. It can be said that the performance was quite impressive. There are four main factors behind this:

The first is upgrading the quality of the foreign trade industry. The central and western regions lead industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, and promote the upgrading, quality and efficiency of traditional industries. In the first quarter, exports of mechanical and electrical products from the central and western regions amounted to 783.21 billion yuan, an increase of 17.4%, higher than the country's export growth of similar products by 8.7 percentage points, accounting for 64.7% of the total export value of the central and western regions. Among them, exports of automatic data processing equipment and parts, mobile phones, and automobiles increased by 8.4%, 21.4%, and 9.3%, respectively.

The second is to open up ports to help development. Last year, the Guanli port port in Yunnan and the Huahu Airport port in Ezhou in Hubei passed inspection, the Biedieli Highway Port in Xinjiang was approved for opening to the public, and the three-dimensional opening pattern of “water, land and air” in the central and western regions was further improved. Here, I would like to talk about Ezhou Huahu Airport. It is the first professional cargo hub airport in Asia and the fourth in the world. In the first quarter of this year, customs supervision of goods entering and leaving Huahu Airport reached 77,000 tons, an increase of 4 times. Furthermore, the Friendship Border between China and Vietnam is currently building China's first cross-border smart port. Relying on the three intelligent platforms, the waiting time for cargo inspection will be reduced by 20% and the quarantine processing time will be reduced by 3.5 hours. Customs clearance costs will be further reduced, and efficiency will be greatly improved. In the first quarter, the import and export of Friendship Pass increased by 18.4%.

Third, the construction of the Grand Corridor is progressing at an accelerated pace. The construction of a new land and sea corridor in the west now connects the river to the sea, and the direct express service between China and Europe across the Caspian Sea has also been opened. The “Tianfu” cross-border road shuttle bus departs from the Central Asia Line, opening up a number of open roads of internal and external linkage and mutual assistance in both directions. In the first quarter, imports and exports from the central and western regions via the new land and sea corridors in the west amounted to 187.19 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3%.

Fourth, the opening of the surrounding area continues to expand. The provinces along the central and western regions give full play to their location advantages, strengthen the construction of connectivity networks with neighboring countries, and accelerate supply chain cooperation in the industrial chain. In the first quarter, imports and exports from the central and western regions to neighboring countries increased by 7.7%. Among them, imports and exports to Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan increased by 10% and 4.8% respectively, accounting for 35.6% and 54.8% of China's total import and export value to Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan during the same period. Recently, the Central Committee's Neighborhood Work Conference was held in Beijing, and open cooperation between China and neighboring countries will be further deepened. Thank you.

CNBC Reporter:

There are two problems. In order to reduce costs, companies that export shoes and boxes to the US say they may distribute some of China's production capacity to other countries. What is the share of products such as shoes in China's exports? How is it different from high technology accounting for exports? What are the prospects for this? Second problem, China Customs recently announced the suspension of import licenses from Darling Ingredients due to the appearance of salmonella. The company claims that there is no salmonella, and that it does not sell much to China. How did China Customs respond to this? Thank you.

Lu Da-liang:

Let me first respond to your first question. Customs statistics are compiled on the basis of the “Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System” formulated by the World Customs Organization, that is, according to what people commonly call HS codes. I'm not sure about the specific HS code range for the products you mentioned, such as shoes and high-tech products. After the meeting, if you can provide a specific product code, we can assist with the search. Of course, you can also go to our website for self-service inquiries.

The second question relates to salmonella food safety issues. Recently, China Customs detected salmonella in imported US poultry meat and bone meal, suspended the three companies' qualifications to export to China according to law and regulations, and also issued public notices. The relevant unsatisfactory situation was also notified to the US official authorities. Among these 3 companies, the company you just mentioned is included. China Customs will, as always, strictly comply with laws and regulations to strengthen the inspection and quarantine of imported products to ensure the safety of imports. Thank you.

China News Agency Reporter:

This year's National Conference emphasized that to successfully achieve the “14th Five-Year Plan” development goals, major economic provinces should take the lead. What was the import and export performance of major foreign trade provinces in the first quarter of this year? What are the highlights? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Thank you for your question. Since this year, in the face of a severe and complex external environment, major foreign trade provinces and cities have bravely shouldered burdens, given full play to their respective advantages, and shown strong supporting and driving effects. In the first quarter, imports and exports from the seven major provinces and cities of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, and Fujian totaled 7.78 trillion yuan. The trend continued to grow, accounting for three-quarters of China's total import and export value, which actually played a leading role. It is mainly reflected in three aspects:

First, it is strong to stabilize the foreign trade market. Major foreign trade provinces have a solid industrial base, outstanding location advantages, and active importers and exporters. In the first quarter, the number of enterprises with import and export performance reached 422,000, an increase of 6.1%, accounting for nearly 80% of the number of enterprises with import and export performance in China. At the same time, major foreign trade provinces are actively expanding the international market and achieving growth in imports and exports to more than 150 countries and regions. The growth rate for 89 of these countries and regions is better than the overall level.

The second is to give full play to the advantages of innovation. Major foreign trade provinces actively cultivate and develop new quality productivity and accelerate the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. In the first quarter, major foreign trade provinces exported 783.52 billion yuan of high-tech products, an increase of 4.5%, accounting for 71.3% of China's similar products. Among them, exports of electronic information products, high-end equipment, and biomedicine were 385.71 billion yuan, 236.58 billion yuan, and 30.11 billion yuan respectively, up 1.6%, 8.9%, and 9.9% respectively, accounting for 66%, 78.4% and 74.8% of similar products in China.

Third, it has strong service to ensure a stable supply chain. Major foreign trade provinces import a large proportion of energy resource products, key components, and consumer goods needed for domestic production and life, which has enriched domestic supply. In the first quarter, imports of crude oil and metal ore from major foreign trade provinces accounted for 83.1% and 67.6% of China's total imports of similar products, and imported electronic components and automatic data processing equipment components accounted for 78% and 88.1% of the total import value of similar products in China, respectively. Furthermore, major foreign trade provinces imported 318.42 billion yuan of consumer goods, accounting for more than 80% of the country. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

One last question.

Daily Economic News Reporter:

We have noticed that this year's “Report on the Work of the Government” emphasizes “promoting smart customs construction and cooperation to raise the level of customs facilitation”. Can you introduce the latest developments in “smart customs” construction and key plans for the next steps? Thank you.

Wang Ling Jun:

Indeed, the “Report on the Work of the Government” has put forward requests for smart customs construction for two consecutive years, and Comrade Lu Daliang is invited to respond.

Lu Da-liang:

Thank you to this journalist friend for the question. Just now, Deputy Director Wang Lingjun said that the “Report on the Work of the Government” has deployed smart customs construction for two consecutive years. Over the past year, the General Administration of Customs has used digital transformation and intelligent upgrading as the main path. On the one hand, it has promoted regulatory system reform and innovation, business process optimization and reengineering, and on the other hand, actively introduced cutting-edge technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to promote the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of customs supervision services, achieve safe, convenient and efficient unification, and fully serve the high-quality development of foreign trade and support a high level of opening-up to the outside world.

At present, we have gradually established a smart customs framework system represented by nine iconic projects to accelerate construction, application, replication and promotion of various business scenarios. We have achieved remarkable results in maintaining national security, promoting smooth and convenient customs clearance, and promoting convenience enterprises.

For example, we have developed and applied smart health and quarantine gates, which integrate various functions such as temperature monitoring and infectious disease risk monitoring to provide a new experience of senseless customs clearance for travelers entering and leaving the country. We have increased the application of “intelligent map inspection” technology to achieve intelligent warning, automatic control, and accurate interception of risks such as safe entry and trade control of goods through intelligent models, making the country's security line stronger. This has become a business card of China Customs in the international customs community. We explore and implement a remote video inspection model for imported railway copper concentrates. On the basis of ensuring quality and safety control, we can achieve accurate distribution of goods, effectively reduce port congestion, improve customs clearance efficiency, and save logistics costs for enterprises.

This year, according to the deployment of the “Report on the Work of the Government”, we will further improve the articles “Construction” and “Cooperation” of smart customs.

In terms of “construction”, we will aim for “assembly integration and basic molding” to accelerate the construction, implementation and application of various business scenarios, especially tandem integration, promote the transformation and upgrading of customs operations, process optimization and reengineering, and create a new smart customs clearance experience of “senseless customs clearance, intelligent supervision, undisturbed, and ubiquitous”.

In terms of “cooperation”, we will continue to deepen communication and cooperation with the World Trade Organization, the World Customs Organization, etc., continue to promote the construction of a global “smart customs” online cooperation platform, accelerate the construction of a BRICS customs demonstration center, facilitate more practical cooperation, and contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the modernization of world customs. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you to the two publishers, and thank all our media friends for participating. Bye.

This article was selected from “China Net”, editor of Zhitong Finance: Jiang Yuanhua.