by Flora Zhao

Editors note：

On May 17， 2016， the Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China （the “MOFCOM”） held a regular press conference， at which， Shen Danyang， the spokesman， briefed the situation of the business performance in April 2016， and responded to the hot issues highly concerned by domestic and overseas media. Part of it is selected to share with our readers.

Market performance

In April， the domestic consumer market presented a steady growth trend. The retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 2.46 trillion， going up 10.1% year on year， 0.1 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year and the actual growth was 9.3% with the price factor excluded. The growth of the total retail sales of consumer goods in January -April was up 10.3% year on year. The monthly growth rate of the sales of 5，000 major retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce has picked up for two consecutive months. The main features are as follows：

The proportion of online retail was further promoted. The online retail sales of physical commodity continued a good growth trend， and up 25.6% year on year in January - April. Its proportion in the retail sales of consumer goods increased to 11.1%， up 0.5 percentage points compared with that of the first quarter.

Catering revenue increased quickly. In April， the national catering revenue was up 11.6%， 0.2 percentage points higher than that of last month. Among that， the revenue of the enterprises above the designated size was up 8.0%， up 0.8 percentage points.

Sales of goods for housing and basic living accelerated. In April， sales of household appliances， furniture and building materials of above-designated enterprises was up 9.1%， 17.1% and 17.3% respectively， up 3.1， 1.2 and 1.7 percentage points respectively compared with those of March. Sales of food， clothing and daily necessities were up 12.1%， 7.3% and 12.7% respectively， up 0.4， 2.9 and 0.5 percentage points respectively.

The Upgraded goods enjoyed a hot selling， and fashionable household appliances were welcomed. In April， the sales of 4G cellphones， ultrahigh 4K TV and doubled-door refrigerator of the enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce was up 10.4%， 12.6% and 9.5% respectively year on year， 12.3， 11.5 and 9.2 percentage points higher than those of all the cellphones， TVs and refrigerators.

Consumer price remained steady， and the price of vegetable decreased. In April， CPI was up 2.3% year on year， the same as that of March and 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce， the price of farm products in 36 large and medium size cities was up 10.5% year on year， 0.7 percentage points slower than that of March， and down 1.5% month on month. Among these， the average wholesale price of 30 kinds of vegetable was down 10.1% compared with that of March； and the price of pork was up 2.9% month on month.

Foreign trade

According to the Customs statistics， Chinas total import and export in January - April reached RMB 7.1671 trillion， down 4.4% year on year. Among these， the export was RMB 4.13736 trillion， down 2.1%； the import was RMB 3.02974 trillion， down 7.5%. The monthly export in April was up 4.1% and the import down 5.7%. In terms of US dollars， in January - April， Chinas total import and export reached US$ 1.10206 trillion， down 9.8%. Among these， the export was US$ 636.63 billion， down 7.6%； the import was US$ 465.43 billion， down 12.8%. In April， the export was down 1.8% and the import 10.9%. The foreign trade in April presented the following features：

Export enjoyed positive growth for two consecutive months. In April， Chinas export continued to increase. The growth rate was 14.6 percentage points slower than that of March， but still enjoyed a month-on-month growth of 7.2%.

The export to the traditional markets was stable again. In April， Chinas export to ASEAN， EU and ROK was up 12.6%， 9.7% and 3.8% respectively， and the export to the U.S. and Japan was down 3.8% and 6.2% respectively. The export to countries related to Belt and Road continued to grow， and the export to Philippines， Thailand and India also increased.

The export of general trade maintained a positive growth for two consecutive months. In April， the export of general trade was up 8.1%， and its proportion in the total national export was up by 2.1 percentage points. The export of processing trade was down 8.2% with a negative growth for 14 consecutive months while dragging the total export down by 2.9 percent- age points.

The export of labor intensive products was better than that of the mechanical and electrical products. The export of seven kinds of labor intensive products reached RMB 232.7 billion， up 11.8%， and 7.7 percentage points higher than the whole export amount. Among these， the export of toys， plastic products and bags was up 22.7%， 17.3% and 16.9% respectively. The export of mechanical and electrical products reached RMB 649.9 billion， up 3%. The export of high-tech products reached RMB 310.7 billion， up 0.8%.

Private enterprises became the major force of export growth. The export of private enterprises increased 17.3% with the proportion up to 47.3%. The export of state-owned enterprises and foreign invested enterprises was down 2.5% and 4.9% respectively.

The export of the Eastern region was stable again. The export of the Eastern area was up 5.4%， with its proportion in the total national export up 1.1 percentage points. The export of the Central and Western area was down 7.5%.

Import volume increased but the price decreased. Affected by the low price of bulk commodities， Chinas import has witnessed negative growth for 18 consecutive months. The import volume of part of the bulk commodities increased but the price decreased. Among these， the import volume of soybean， natural gas， copper ore， crude oil， iron ore， copper products and refined oil increased 33.3%， 27.1%， 21.5%， 7.5%， 4.8%， 4.3% and 1.8% respectively， but their import price decreased 10%， 25.2%， 18%， 30.4%， 5.4%， 12.9% and 19.6% respectively， with the decrease of 0.8， 6.6， 2.2， 7.8， 20.5， 1.8 and 6.2 percentage points slower than that of March respectively.

The foreign investment in China

In January-April， Chinas utilization of foreign investment showed the following features：

Chinas input of FDI continued a steady growth. In January - April， there were 8，298 newly founded foreign invested enterprises， up 6.5% year on year； the actual use of FDI was RMB 286.78 billion （US$ 45.3 billion）， up 4.8% year on year （ with the data of bank， security and insurance excluded）. In April， there were 2，342 newly set foreign invested enterprises， up 21.4% year on year； the actual use of FDI was RMB 62.57 billion （US$ 9.89 billion）， up 6% year on year.

The high-tech service industry enjoyed a constant increase. In January - April， the actual use of foreign capital of service industry was RMB 201.4 billion （US$31.88 billion）， with an increase of 7.9% year on year， accounting for 70.2% of the total amount of the whole country. The actual use of FDI of the high-tech service industry was RMB 32.53 billion （US$ 5.13 billion） with an increase of 108.6% year on year.

The investment from major resources remains stable and the investment from the countries along the“Belt and Road” to China continued to increase. In January - April， the top ten countries/regions have actually input（calculating according to the actual input foreign capital） RMB 271.26 bil- lion （US$42.87 billion）， accounting for 94.6% of the actual use of foreign investment in the country， up 4.6% year on year. At the same time， ASEAN actually input RMB15.64 billion（US$2.45 billion） to China， up 45.6% year on year. 28 EU countries actually input RMB22.08 billion （US$3.5 billion） to China， up 41.9% year on year. Countries related to the “Belt and Road” actually input RMB16.02 billion（US$2.51 billion） to China， with an increase of 23% year on year. In April， ASEAN actually invested RMB4.07 billion （US$0.64 billion）， increasing by 77.1% on a year-on-year basis. 28 EU countries actually invested RMB4.85 billion （US$0.78 billion）， going up by 57.8 %. Countries related to “the Belt and Road” actually invested RMB4.25 billion （US$0.67 billion）， going up by 75.9% year on year.

There are many newly-established and capital-increased large-scale enterprises. In January-April， there were more than 220 newly-established large-scale foreign-invested enterprises with more than US$100 million aggregate investment， more than 150 enterprises with more than US$100 million capital increase and more than 160 enterprises whose actual capital is more than US$500 million. These enterprises range from the research and development ones from the manufacturing industries such as new material， new energy automobile and battery， aircraft parts， integrated circuit and chip， to the service ones from the fields such as medical treatment and pension， e-commerce， cloud computing and technological research and development and application of internet of Things.

The western region increased its foreign investment rapidly. In January -April， the western region actually used foreign capital of RMB$23.43 billion（US$3.66 billion）， up 36.2% year on year， far higher than the increase of the country. That actually used by the eastern region is RMB246.03 billion（US$38.92 billion）， up 4.4% year on year. That actually used by the middle region is RMB17.33 billion （US$2.73 billion）， down 16% year on year. Those of eastern， middle and western region accounted for 85.8%， 6% and 8.2% of the whole country. That of Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB124.83 billion （US$19.5 billion）， up 3.9% year on year. In April， the actual use of foreign capital of Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB26.45 billion （US$4.12 billion）， up 31.3% year on year.

The actual use of foreign capital by means of merge and acquisition continued to grow. In January-April， 441 enterprises were established through merger and acquisition. The actual use of foreign capital was RMB66.46 billion （US$10 billion）， up 7.3% and 14.7% respectively year on year.

Outward investment and economic cooperation

Foreign Direct Investment. In January - April， the Chinese mainland investors carried out non-financial direct investment in 3，434 overseas enterprises of 150 countries and regions in the globe， with an accumulative investment value of RMB391.45 billion （US$60.08 billion， with an increase of 71.8% year on year）.

From the distribution of the countries and regions of the foreign direct investment， in January - April， the investment from China in the North America， Oceania， Asia and Latin America increased 226%， 152.8%， 81.4% and 59.5% year on year respectively， the investment in Africa increased 1.2% slightly and the investment in Europe decreased 43.4%. The non-financial direct investment in 49 countries related with the “Belt and Road” was US$4.91 billion， with an increase of 32%， accounting for 8.2% of the total sum in the same period and the investment mainly flew to Singapore， India， Malaysia， Indonesia， etc.

In January - April， the investment from Chinese mainland to the seven major economies such as China Hong Kong， ASEAN， EU， Australia， the United States， Russia and Japan reached US$46.96 billion， accounting for 78.2% of the total sum of the foreign direct investment in the same period. Among these， the investment in the United States， Australia， Chinese Hong Kong， and the ASEAN increased 235.7%， 188.1%， 83.9% and 21.5% year on year respectively， the investment in the EU decreased 44.8% year on year and the investment in Russia and Japan remained the same as the last year.

According to the division of the three industries， in January - April， Chinese outward investment flew US$43.84 billion to the tertiary industry， with an increase of 73.2% year on year， accounting for 73% of the total sum of the outward investment in the same period. Among these， the investment in the fields such as the wholesale and retail industry， scientific research and technical services， accommodation and catering， culture and sports， and education realized multiplied high-speed growth. The investment flowing to the second industry was US$15.6 billion， accounting for 26% and the investment flowing to the first industry accounted for 1%.

Contracted foreign project. In January-April， the newly-signed contractual value of the contracted foreign projects of China was RMB384.02 billion （US$58.94 billion， with an increase of 3.8% year on year） and the completed turnover was RMB257.75 billion（US$39.56 billion， with a decrease of 5.5% year on year）.

Foreign labor service cooperation. In January - April， China had sent 141，000 workers of all kinds for foreign labor services cooperation， a YoY decrease of 26，000 over the same period of last year， including 74，000 workers sent for contracted projects and 67，000 for labor service cooperation. In April， 983，000 labor service workers of all kinds had been sent， decreasing by 12，000 when compared with the same period of last year.