Foreign Trade

In the first 10 months, China's foreign trade volume reached $1.42 trillion, up 24.1 percent compared with the same period last year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) (see graph 1). The trade surplus stood at $133.63 billion at the end of October. The trade volume in the first 10 months has surpassed that in the whole year of 2005.

In October alone, the foreign trade volume rose 22.9 percent to $152.43 billion. Of the total, exports stood at $88.13 billion and imports $64.3 billion, increasing 29.6 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively, year on year.

From January to October, the total volume of general trade and processing trade amounted to $609.15 billion and $671.33 billion, up 25.4 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, over the year-earlier period.

The EU, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained China's five largest trading partners (see graph 2).

Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai registered the largest foreign trade volumes in the country, with their combined amount accounting for 58.8 percent of the national total (see graph 3).

Machinery and electrical products contributed 56.4 percent to China's total exports. In the first 10 months, their exports were valued at $439.71 billion, shooting up 29.7 percent compared with the same period last year. Of the total, those of electrical appliances and electronic products, machinery products and equipment as well as hi-tech products reached $181.21 billion, $148.75 billion and $222.67 billion, edging up 34.1 percent, 23.9 percent and 30 percent, respectively, year on year.

At the same time, exports of clothes and shoes picked up 27.3 percent and 15.7 percent to $77.78 billion and $18.11 billion, respectively.

However, from January to October, exports of crude oil and refined oil decreased 12.5 percent and 17.6 percent to 5.09 million tons and 9.99 million tons, respectively.

During the January-October period, China imported $155.21 billion worth of primary products, surging 29.1 percent from the same period last year. Of the total, soybean imports jumped 9.7 percent to 23.5 million tons.

In the first 10 months, the country also bought $490.45 billion worth of manufactured goods, up 18.6 percent over the year-earlier period, with the amount accounting for 76 percent of the country's total volume of imports. Of this total, imports of machinery and electrical products were valued at $34.71 million, increasing 24.3 percent from a year ago. During the first 10 months, China imported 180,000 automobiles, up 40 percent compared with the same period last year.

Industrial Growth

In October, all state-owned enterprises as well as non-state enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan (enterprises above the designated size) completed added value of 760.1 billion yuan, edging up 14.7 percent year on year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (see graphs 4 and 5).

The sales ratio of industrial products arrived at 98.44 percent, 0.61 percentage points higher than the rate a year ago. Their export delivery value amounted to 539.7 billion yuan, up 22.2 percent compared with the same period last year.

From January to October, the added value of enterprises above the designated size totaled 6.99 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.9 percent.

Fixed Assets Investment

From January to October, the aggregate fixed assets investment in urban areas was 7.01 trillion yuan, up 26.8 percent compared with the same period last year, said the NBS. Among the total, state-owned and state-holding enterprises and the real estate development sector completed investment of 3.33 trillion yuan and 1.46 trillion yuan, increasing 17.7 percent and 24.1 percent, respectively, year on year.

The investment in projects funded by the state budget was 775.7 billion yuan, a rise of 29.6 percent over the year-earlier period, and that in local projects stood at 6.23 trillion yuan, up 26.5 percent year on year.

By industry, the investment in primary, secondary and tertiary industries reached 76.5 billion yuan, 3.01 trillion yuan and 3.92 trillion yuan, up 34.9 percent, 27.6 percent and 26 percent, respectively, year on year.

During the January-October period, the investment made by domestic enterprises grew 27.6 percent compared with the same period last year. The investment made by enterprises with capital from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and by foreign-funded enterprises stood at 322.1 billion yuan and 441 billion yuan, up 14.3 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively, year on year.

At the end of October, 248,869 projects each valued at 500,000 yuan or above were under construction, 33,251 more than the number in the same period last year. The planned investment totaled 19.44 trillion yuan, up 22.6 percent year on year. Of the total, the number of newly started projects was 168,568, which was 21,344 more than a year ago, with the total planned investment of 5.28 trillion yuan, growing 4.4 percent from a year ago.

In the first 10 months, the paid-in capital totaled 7.77 trillion yuan, a rise of 28.8 percent over the year-earlier period. Of this, domestic loans, foreign investment and self-collected funds registered growth of 27.7 percent, 12.9 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively, year on year.

Retail Sales

In October, retail sales of consumer goods stood at 699.8 billion yuan, up 14.3 percent over the year-earlier period, according to the NBS. In the first 10 months, the total sales volume amounted to 6.21 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent.

By region, retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas peaked at 472.1 billion yuan in October, rising 14.8 percent over a year ago, and those in rural areas registered a growth rate of 13.5 percent to 227.7 billion yuan.

By sector, the sales volume of the wholesale and retail sector went up 14.1 percent to 584.9 billion yuan. That of the accommodation and catering sector gained 18.5 percent to 96.5 billion yuan, and that of other sectors totaled 18.4 billion yuan, climbing 4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Retail sales of food, clothing and commodities for daily use rose 23.1 percent, 16.6 percent and 22.9 percent, respectively, year on year (see graph 6).