CCTV News: The State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the import and export situation in the first three quarters of 2024. Wang Lingjun, Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that in the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports to ASEAN reached 5.09 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.4%, which is 4.1 percentage points higher than the overall national growth rate. Among them, exports amounted to 3.02 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.3%; Imports amounted to 2.07 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4%.
Wang Lingjun stated that the sustained positive development of trade between China and ASEAN is mainly due to the following aspects:
Firstly, the large markets of both sides provide strong support for the development of bilateral trade. China and ASEAN have continued to deepen their pragmatic cooperation and have been each other's largest trading partners for four consecutive years. In the future, the signing and implementation of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade agreement will provide stronger impetus for both sides to jointly build a super large market.
Secondly, multidimensional connectivity promotes more convenient and efficient trade exchanges. Land ports are bustling with traffic. In the first three quarters, imports and exports through the largest land port between China and Vietnam, Friendship Pass, reached 336.34 billion yuan, an increase of 15.6%. With the comprehensive promotion of the construction of Sino Vietnamese smart ports, more digital and intelligent technological equipment will press the "acceleration button" for bilateral trade; The railway channel continued to work. The import and export of goods through the China Laos railway reached 3.766 million tons, an increase of 15%, the import and export value increased by 50.7%, the waterway routes became more and more dense, the number of routes from Beibu Gulf Port to ASEAN countries has increased to 35, and the trade volume with ASEAN through Beibu Gulf Port has increased by 12.8%.
Furthermore, the cooperation in the industrial chain continues to deepen, and the import and export of intermediate goods have achieved rapid growth. China and ASEAN countries have close cooperation in fields such as electronic information, automobile manufacturing, textile and clothing, and the scale of intermediate goods import and export continues to expand. In the first three quarters, China's imports and exports of intermediate goods to ASEAN reached 3.23 trillion yuan, and the total value of imports and exports between China and ASEAN was 5.09 trillion yuan. Intermediate goods accounted for 3.23 trillion yuan, almost exceeding 60%, with a growth rate of 9%. Among them, the import and export of electronic information intermediate products such as computer accessories, tablet display modules, and integrated circuits increased by 63.9%, 22.2%, and 13% respectively.
Finally, the complementary advantages of people's livelihood consumption make the two-way selection of characteristic agricultural products more extensive. In the first three quarters, China imported agricultural products worth 184.83 billion yuan from ASEAN, making ASEAN the second largest source of agricultural imports for China. This year, the newly added Malaysian fresh durian, Brunei seafood, Vietnamese coconut and other products have further enriched the choices for domestic consumption. Meanwhile, ASEAN is the largest export market for agricultural products in China. Chinese fruits such as citrus and pear, as well as vegetables such as garlic and onions, are widely popular in the ASEAN market. In the first three quarters, China's exports of dried and fresh fruits and vegetables to ASEAN increased by 18.4% and 15.5% respectively.
