by Zhao Xinhua

On October 13， the General Administration of Customs released data showing that according to customs statistics， in the first three quarters， Chinas general trade import and export amounted to 13.92 trillion yuan， an increase of 2.19%， accounting for 60.2% of Chinas total foreign trade value， an increase of 0.8% over the same period last year. Among them， exports were 7.57 trillion yuan， an increase of 3.8%； imports were 6.35 trillion yuan， an increase of 0.1%. In the same period， the import and export of processing trade was 5.39 trillion yuan， down 6.49%.

The export growth rate of mechanical and electrical products turned from negative to positive， and the export of pandemic prevention materials grew rapidly. Specifically， in the first three quarters， Chinas exports of mechanical and electrical products were 7.46 trillion yuan， an increase of 3.2%， and the growth rate was 5.5 percentage points higher than that in the first half of the year， accounting for 58.7% of the total export value. Among them， the change in lifestyles caused by the pandemic led to laptop computers， home appliance exports increased by 17.6% and 17.3% respectively.

At the same time， exports of seven categories of labor-intensive products such as textiles and apparel were 2.59 trillion yuan， an increase of 5.4%， accounting for 20.4%， of which textile exports including masks were 828.78 billion yuan， an increase of 37.5%. In addition， exports of medical materials and medicines， medical instruments and equipment increased by 21.8% and 48.2% respectively.

Imports of major commodities and key agricultural products have also increased. In the first three quarters， China imported 868 million tons of iron ore， an increase of 10.8%； imported crude oil was 416 million tons， an increase of 12.7%； imported coal was 239 million tons， a decrease of 4.4%； imported natural gas was 73.731 million tons， an increase of 3.7%. In the same period， imports of soybeans and meat grew rapidly. Among them， 74.529 million tons of soybeans were imported， an increase of 15.5%； pork imports were 3.286 million tons， an increase of 132.2%； and beef imports were 1.572 million tons， an increase of 38.8%.