Foreign trade rises 1.9% to historic high

China saw notable rebound in exports in 2020, led by sales of medical supplies

China was the only major economy in the world to achieve positive goods trade growth in 2020, with its foreign trade beating expectations and registering a historic high, government officials said on Thursday.

The country's foreign trade grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 32.16 trillion yuan ($4.97 trillion) in 2020, compared with 2.97 trillion yuan in 2010, while its exports increased 4 percent year-on-year and imports declined by 0.7 percent. Its trade surplus surged 27.4 percent to 3.7 trillion yuan, according to the latest foreign trade data released by the General Administration of Customs.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China started to register positive growth in foreign trade in June last year and hit a record high in total foreign trade volume, exports of goods and the global market share of the country's total trade by the end of last year, Li Kuiwen, a spokesman for the administration, said at a news conference.

According to the World Trade Organization, China's exports from January to October accounted for 14.2 percent of the international market and imports for 11.5 percent, both reaching historic highs.

The country's total foreign trade comprises 12.8 percent of the overall global figure, also an all-time high.