Foreign Trade

In the first seven months, China's foreign trade volume reached $941.85 billion, up 23.1 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs (see graph 1). The trade surplus stood at $75.95 billion at the end of July.

In July alone, the foreign trade volume rose by 21.3 percent to $146.06 billion. Of the total, exports stood at $80.34 billion and imports $65.72 billion, a rise of 22.6 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively, year on year.

From January to July, the total volume of general trade and processing trade amounted to $405.4 billion and $442.21 billion, respectively, up 23 percent and 21.6 percent, over the same period last year.

The EU, the United States, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained China's four largest trading partners (see graph 2).

Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai registered the largest foreign trade volume in the country, with their combined amount accounting for 58.6 percent of the national total (see graph 3).

Machinery and electrical products contributed 56.5 percent to China's total exports. From January to July, their exports were valued at $287.59 billion, shooting up 29.5 percent compared with the same period last year. Of the country's total exports, those of electrical appliances and electronic products, machinery and equipment, and hi-tech products reached $116.96 billion, $99.15 billion and $145.07 billion, respectively, up 34.9 percent, 22.9 percent and 30.8 percent year on year.

Exports of clothes and shoes expanded 27.1 percent and 15.5 percent to $49.17 billion and $12.23 billion, respectively.

However, exports of crude oil and refined oil decreased 22.9 percent and 19.3 percent to 3.42 million tons and 7.12 million tons, respectively.

During the January-July period, China imported $105.95 billion worth of primary products, up 29.9 percent from the same period last year. Of the total, soybean imports grew 10.6 percent to 16.45 million tons.

The country also imported $327 billion worth of manufactured goods, up 18.5 percent over the same period last year, with the amount accounting for 75.5 percent of the country's total volume of imports. Of this total, imports of machinery and electrical products were valued at $231.17 billion, increasing 26.4 percent from a year ago. During the first seven months, China imported 127,000 automobiles and $47.18 billion worth of chemical finished products, a rise of 60 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Industry

Industrial growth. In July, all state-owned enterprises and non-public enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan (enterprises above designated size) completed added value of 720 billion yuan, up 16.7 percent year on year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (see graphs 4 and 5).

The sales ratio of industrial products arrived at 98.29 percent, a decline of 0.32 percentage points from a year ago. Their export delivery value amounted to 487.7 billion yuan, growing 21.8 percent compared with the same period last year.

From January to July, the added value of enterprises above the designated size totaled 4.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6 percent.

Industrial profits. From January to July, the total volume of profits made by all state-owned enterprises and non-public enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan stood at 967.9 billion yuan, up 28.6 percent compared with the same period last year (see graphs 6 and 7).

During this period, taxes paid by these enterprises amounted to 733 billion yuan, growing 23.3 percent year on year. Of the total, state-owned and state-holding enterprises contributed 415 billion yuan, up 18.9 percent.

In the first seven months, the sales revenue generated by these enterprises reached 16.48 trillion yuan, up 26.4 percent year on year. The amount earned by state-owned and state-holding enterprises hit 5.48 trillion yuan, up 20.1 percent.

By the end of July, stockpiles of finished products in all state-owned enterprises and non-public enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan were valued at 1.38 trillion yuan, a rise of 17 percent over a year ago. Of the total, those of state-owned and state-holding enterprises accounted for 379.6 billion yuan, up 12.9 percent. The overdue receivables in these enterprises stood at 2.98 trillion yuan, growing 19.4 percent compared with the same period last year. Of the total, state-owned and state-holding enterprises had a share of 771.3 billion yuan, up 6.9 percent.

Interest Rate Hike

The composite index of Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges went up 1.57 percent and 1.87 percent respectively during the first week after the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, raised the benchmark interest rate, according to Xinhua.

On August 18, the central bank hiked the one-year benchmark interest rate by 0.27 percentage point. The news brought down the Shanghai composite index by 1.68 percent to open at 1,565.457 points on August 21.

The day saw fluctuations end with the composite index bouncing back to close at 1,601.15 points, up 3.13 points.

During the week, the two stock exchanges saw their respective turnover reaching 72.2 billion yuan and 44.2 billion yuan, both higher than the previous week.

The share price of the heavy weighted China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (SH 600036) hit a new high in the week after it released the rough issuance price for its initial public offer in the Hong Kong market, which was much higher than expected.

Shares in non-ferrous metals, the space industry and property sectors also performed well during the week.

The interest rate now stands at 2.52 percent for one-year deposits and 6.12 percent for a one-year loan, as set by the People's Bank of China.

The central bank raised the loan rates by the same margin in late April but did not change the deposit rates.

Transport Logistic Expo

Shanghai hosts the Transport Logistic China 2006 on September 19-22, an event to help overseas small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the Chinese market.