China's exports up, imports down in May

BEIJING - China's exports rose by 1.4 percent year-on-year in yuan terms to 1.46 trillion yuan ($205.74 billion) in May, official data showed on Sunday.

Imports fell by 12.7 percent to 1.01 trillion yuan last month, resulting in a trade surplus of 442.75 billion yuan, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

Foreign trade of goods decreased by 4.9 percent year-on-year in May to 2.47 trillion yuan.

In the first five months, foreign trade of goods dropped by 4.9 percent year-on-year to 11.54 trillion yuan, maintaining the same level of decrease during the January-April period.

During the January-May period, ASEAN remained as China's largest trading partner with trade up by 4.2 percent year-on-year to 1.7 trillion yuan, accounting for 14.7 percent of China's total foreign trade.

Trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan decreased during the period, GAC data showed.

During the same period, the foreign trade volume of private enterprises expanded by 1.8 percent to 5.11 trillion yuan, accounting for 44.3 percent of China's total foreign trade volumes, up by 2.9 percentage points from the same period last year.

General trade, which represents a longer production chain and higher added-value as the key indicator of a country's foreign trade competence, decreased by 4.7 percent year-on-year in the first five months. However, it accounted for 59.9 percent of the country's total trade, 0.1 percentage points higher over one year ago.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought shockwaves to global trade, experts say it is crucial for China to strengthen the implementation of measures to stabilize foreign trade.