China’s trade with the rest of the world increased by 1.9% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to figures published this Wednesday by the General Customs Administration.
Trade amounted to 32.15 billion yuan (?4.09 billion).
Official statistics show that exports grew by 4% last year to 17.93 billion yuan (?2.28 billion).
Imports, on the other hand, fell by 0.7% compared to 2020 to 14.22 billion yuan (?1.8 billion).
The trade surplus was thus 3.7 trillion yuan (?471.961 billion) in 2020, 26.7% more than in 2019.
Trade with the European Union (EU) increased by 5.3% in 2020, while trade with the United States increased by 8.8% over the same period.
Trade with China’s main trading partner, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), grew by 7%.
In December, China’s international trade expanded by 5.9% year-on-year to 3.2 billion yuan (?407,238 million).
During the same month, exports increased by 10.9%, while imports fell by 0.2%.
The General Customs Administration pointed out yesterday that during the first ten months of 2020, China’s trade with the rest of the world represented 12.8% of the world total, while exports reached 14.2% in that period.
These would be historic highs for China, according to the same body, which cites its own and World Trade Organisation data.
