Foreign Trade

In the first four months of 2006, the volume of China's foreign trade reached $514.72 billion, expanding 24 percent compared with the same period last year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs (see graph 1). The trade surplus stood at $33.76 billion at the end of April.

In April alone, the foreign trade volume was up 19.8 percent to $143.44 billion. Of the total, exports arrived at $76.95 billion and imports stood at $66.49 billion, up 23.9 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively, year on year.

From January to April, total volumes of general trade and processing trade amounted to $218.38 billion and $245.46 billion, ranging up 22.1 percent and 24.9 percent, respectively, compared with the year-earlier period (see graph 2).

The EU, the United States, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained the country's four largest trading partners (see graph 3).

Machinery and electrical products contributed 57.9 percent to total exports. From January to April, exports of machinery and electrical products were valued at $158.72 billion, surging 32.7 percent over the year-earlier period. Of this total, exports of electrical appliances and electronic products, machinery products and equipment as well as hi-tech products reached $64.41 billion, $55.7 billion and $81.24 billion, shooting up 40.2 percent, 24.3 percent and 34.4 percent, respectively, year on year. Exports of clothes and shoes expanded 24.7 percent and 19.3 percent to $24.03 billion and $6.64 billion. However, exports of crude oil and refined oil products decreased 2.8 percent and 12.8 percent, standing at 2.4 million tons and 4.2 million tons, respectively.

During the January-April period, China imported $58.53 billion of primary products, shooting up 32.2 percent compared with the same period last year. The country also bought manufactured goods worth $181.96 billion, 19.1 percent more than the figure in the same period last year. Of this total, imports of machinery and electrical products were valued at $129.56 billion, rising 28.5 percent year on year. At the same time, China bought 72,000 automobiles, soaring 97.5 percent from a year ago. During this period, the country imported 6.29 million tons of rolled steel, a decline of 26.4 percent over a year ago.

Industrial Growth

In April, all state-owned enterprises as well as non-state enterprises with annual sales revenue of more than 5 million yuan completed added value of 682 billion yuan, up 16.6 percent year on year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (see graphs 4 and 5). The sales ratio of industrial products stood at 98.04 percent, 0.19 percentage points higher than the rate in the same period last year. Their export delivery value amounted to 473.3 billion yuan, increasing 22.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

From January through April, the added value completed by all state-owned enterprises as well as non-state enterprises with annual sales revenue of over 5 million yuan totaled 2.46 trillion yuan, growing 16.7 percent over a year ago.

Fixed Assets Investment

From January to April, the aggregate fixed assets investment in urban areas was 1.8 trillion yuan, shooting up 29.6 percent over the year-earlier period, according to statistics released by the NBS (see graph 6). Of the total, state-owned and state-holding enterprises completed investment of 844.1 billion yuan, up 19.3 percent, and investment in the real estate sector expanded 21.3 percent to 413.1 billion yuan.

The investment in central projects arrived at 190.5 billion yuan, expanding 18.8 percent year on year, and that in local projects was 1.61 trillion yuan, an increase of 31.1 percent over the same period last year.

During this period, the investment in coal mining and washing was 20.1 billion yuan, surging 58.2 percent; that in petroleum and natural gas exploitation was 31.1 billion yuan, growing 3.7 percent; and that in the production and supply of electricity, gas and water was 152.8 billion yuan, jumping 15.6 percent compared with the same period last year. At the same time, the investment in railway transportation soared 85.7 percent to 34.8 billion yuan.

In the first four months, the investment from domestic enterprises reached 1.57 trillion yuan, ranging up 31.2 percent over the same period last year. The investment from foreign-funded enterprises stood at 129.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.9 percent and that from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded enterprises grew 17.4 percent to 93.7 billion yuan.

As of the end of April, there were 109,862 projects under construction, 23,212 more than the figure in the same period last year. The total planned investment in these projects was 13.9 trillion yuan, surging 29.2 percent year on year. Of the total, the number of newly started projects was 49,562, 11,957 more than that a year ago, with a total planned investment of 2.08 trillion yuan, growing 32.2 percent.

During the January-April period, the paid-in capital totaled 2.47 trillion yuan, surging 31.8 percent over the year-earlier period. Of this total, domestic loans, foreign investment and self-collected funds were up 25.1 percent, 31 percent and 39.3 percent, respectively, year on year.

Accommodation and Catering

From January to April, retail sales of the accommodation and catering industry reached 329.87 billion yuan, contributing 13.6 percent to total retail sales of consumer goods, said the Ministry of Commerce, quoting statistics released by the NBS. Their year-on-year growth rate, 14.5 percent, was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the overall increase of retail sales of consumer goods and pulling the retail sales of consumer goods up 1.95 percentage points.

In the first four months, 335 foreign-invested enterprises were approved for establishment in the accommodation and catering industry, up 2.8 percent over a year ago. The commitment and paid-in capital reached $900 million and $230 million, growing 20.8 percent and 71.4 percent, respectively, year on year.