China’s foreign trade in 2011

According to statistics of the Customs， China’s exports and imports in 2011 reached $3.64206 trillion， up 22.5% over last year. Specifically， exports stood at $1.8986 trillion， up 20.3% year on year; imports $1.74346 trillion， up 24.9%. 2011 saw a trade surplus of $155.14 billion， a decline of 14.5% from 2010.

In December alone， China’s foreign trade value registered $332.92 billion， an increase of 12.6% over 2010， 5 percentage points lower than that of November. In detail， exports reached $174.72 billion， a year-on-year increase of 13.4%， 0.4 percentage points lower than November; imports reached$158.2 billion， a year-on-year increase of 11.8%， 10.3 percentage points lower than November.

China’s foreign trade in 2011 has the following features.

The general trade saw rapid growth， while the proportion of the processing trade saw significant decline. In 2011， general trade value increased by 29.2% year on year to $1.9 trillion， making 52.8% of the total trade value， 2.7 percentage points higher than 2010. Processing trade value increased by 12.7% year on year to $1.3 trillion， making 36.1% of the total trade value， 2.8 percentage points lower than 2010.

Steady increase in trade with Europe， the U.S. and Japan; rapid growth in trade with emerging markets. In 2011， China’s trade value with Europe， the U.S. and Japan increased by 18.3%， 15.9%， 15.1% respectively， 4.2， 6.6， 7.4 percentage points lower respectively than the growth of the nation’s total foreign trade value. China’s trade with ASEAN nations increased by 23.9%， 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the nation’s total foreign trade value. China’s trade with Brazil， Russia and South Africa increased by 34.5%， 42.7% and 76.7%， all of which were higher than the increase of the nation’s total foreign trade value.

Exports of eastern China slowed down， while that of the central and western regions of the nation increased rapidly. In 2011， exports of Guangdong， Jiangsu， Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai increased by 17.4%， 15.6%， 19.9% and 16% respectively， which were slightly lower than the national level. Exports of Chongqing， Henan， Guizhou and Jiangxi provinces increased by 165%， 82.7%， 55.5% and 63.1% respectively， which were significantly higher than the national level.

Trade value of private corporations increased faster than the total trade， and the increase of trade value of foreign-funded enterprises slowed down. In 2011， trade value of private corporations increased by 36% to $1.02 trillion， 13.5 percentage points higher than the nation’s total trade value. Trade value of foreign-funded corporations increased by 16.2% to $1.86 trillion， 15.2 percentage points lower than 2010. Trade value of state-owned enterprises increased by 22.2% to $0.76 trillion.

Utilization of foreign investment

In 2011， China utilized a record $116.011 billion worth of foreign capital， an increase of 9.72% over 2010. China approved the establishment of27，712 new foreign-invested enterprises， an increase of 1.12% year on year. In December along， the nation utilized $12.242 billion worth of foreign capital， a decline of 12.73% from 2010.

The service industry surpassed the manufacturing industry in terms of volume and increase rate of foreign capital utilization. In 2011， the sectors of agriculture， forestry， animal husbandry， and fisheries made an actual use of $2.009 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 5.07% year on year and accounting for 1.73% of the national total. The manufacturing industry made an actual use of$52.101 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 5.06% over the same period of last year and accounting for 44.91% of the national total. The service industry made an actual use of $55.243 billion， an increase of 20.54% year on year， and accounting for 47.62% of the national total. For the first time， the service sector had received more foreign capital than the manufacturing sector.

Among the service industry， such sectors as leasing， radio， film and television， special machinery equipment repair， food， beverage， tobacco， household supplies， tourism， and entertainment saw 60%-plus increases in the utilization of foreign capital. As a result of the nation’s macro-control， the real estate sector saw 12.07% increase in the utilization of foreign capital， 8.47 percentage points lower than the overall level of the service industry.

Asian nations were the major source of foreign investment in China， while investment from Europe and the United States declined. In 2011， paid-in capital from the ten Asian nations and regions (Hong Kong， Macao， the Taiwan province， Japan， Philippines， Thailand， Malaysia， Singapore， Indonesia， and South Korea) was valued at $100.517 billion， an increase of 13.99% year on year. Paid-in capital from the United States amounted to $2.995 billion， down 26.07% from 2010. Paid-in capital from the 27 European Union nations fell by 3.65% to $6.348 billion.

Actual use of foreign investment in central and western China outgrew that of the eastern regions of the nation. In 2011， the eastern regions made an actual use of $96.604 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 7.51% from 2010 and accounting for 83.27% of the national total. The central regions made an actual use of $7.836 billion， an increase of 14.26% from 2010 and accounting for 6.75% of the national total. The western regions made an actual use of $11.571 billion in foreign investment， an increase of 28.24% year on year and accounting for 9.97% of the national total.

Overseas investment and economic cooperation

China’s outbound FDI

In 2011， China’s domestic investors invested directly in 3391 overseas corporation in 132 nations and regions， with a total of non-financial outbound FDI of $60.07 billion， an increase of 1.8% year on year. By the end of 2011， China’s domestic investors had set up 18，000 FDI enterprises in 178 nations and regions， with a total of non-financial outbound FDI of $322 billion.

Investments in Europe and Africa increased rapidly. China invested $4.61 billion and $1.7billion directly in Europe and Africa in 2011， 57.3% and 58.9% higher respectively than 2010. $4.278 billion in FDI went to the European Union， an increase of 94.1% year on year.

Mergers and acquisitions were made in a broader field. In 2011， $22.2 billion worth of FDI was realized in the form of merger and acquisition， making up 37% of China’s total FDI. Merger and acquisition were made in such sectors as mining， manufacturing， electricity generation and supply， transportation， wholesale and retail. Sinochem Group’s Hong Kong subsidiary company bought 40% stake of Norway’s national oil company Peregrino Oil Field in Brazil for $3.07 billion， marking the largest overseas merger by Chinese enterprises in 2011.

Local investment had been robust. In 2011， FDI from local Chinese regions registered $20.3 billion， an increase of 24.4% year on year and accounting for 33.4% of the national total. FDI from central China was 64.1% higher than 2010， the fastest increase among all regions， followed by the western regions with an increase of 42.9%. Zhejiang， Shandong， Jiangsu， Guangdong and Shanghai were among the top in terms of FDI.

Overseas-contracted projects

In 2011， China’s overseas-contracted projects reported a turnover of $103.42 billion， an increase of 12.2% year on year. $142.33 billion worth of new contracts were signed， up 5.9% year on year. 498 of the new projects were of a contract value of over$50 million， with a total contract value of $112.37 billion， representing 79% of the total value of the newly-signed contracts. 266 of the new projects were of a contract value of over $100 million， compared with 261 in 2010.

By the end of 2011， China had signed $841.6 billion worth of overseas project contracts， with a total turnover of $539 billion.

Foreign labor service cooperation

In 2011， the number of all kinds of labor sent abroad was 452，000， an increase of 41，000 year on year. At the end of 2011， there were a total of 812，000 Chinese working abroad. By the end of 2011， China had sent abroad a total of 5.88 million labor service personnel of all types on an accumulative basis.

(Source: Press conference of the Ministry of Commerce of China on January 18， 2012)