China's foreign trade dropped 8.8 percent year on year in September to 2.22 trillion yuan (about 352 billion U.S. dollars), less severe than the 9.7-percent contraction in August, official data showed on Tuesday.
Exports dropped 1.1 percent to 1.3 trillion yuan and imports decreased 17.7 percent to 924 billion yuan. The trade surplus totaled 376.2 billion yuan, up 96.1 percent, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.
For the first three quarters, foreign trade dropped 7.9 percent year on year to 17.87 trillion yuan, with exports down 1.8 percent to 10.24 trillion yuan and imports down 15.1 percent to 7.63 trillion yuan. The trade surplus surged by 82.1 percent to 2.61 trillion yuan.
GAC spokesperson Huang Songping attributed the drops to the sluggish global economy, high costs and slumping commodity prices, citing data from the World Trade Organization that showed global exports dropped 10.9 percent year on year in the first seven months.
China's foreign trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative hit 4.5 trillion yuan, about 25 percent of the total foreign trade in the first three quarters.
China reported 2.59 trillion yuan in trade with the European Union, its largest trade partner, in the first three quarters, 2.54 trillion yuan in trade with the United States, its second-largest trade partner, and 2.11 trillion yuan with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), its third-largest trade partner.
Exports to emerging markets have been rising. Foreign trade grew 5.8 percent with ASEAN, 8.7 percent with India, 1.3 percent with Latin America and 6.1 percent with Africa.
Exports to Japan, China's fifth-largest trade partner, dropped 11 percent year on year to 1.27 trillion yuan, accounting for about 7.1 percent of the country's total in the first three quarters. Exports to Japan dropped 9.5 percent to 618.61 billion yuan and imports from Japan dropped 12.3 percent to 655.48 billion yuan, resulting in a trade deficit of 36.87 billion yuan.
Foreign trade of private firms dropped 2.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters to 6.52 trillion yuan, accounting for about 36.5 percent of China's total exports during the same period. But exports of private firms rose 2.5 percent year on year.
In contrast, state-owned enterprises saw their foreign trade fall 13 percent. and foreign trade of enterprises with overseas investment declined 6.3 percent year on year.
China exported more mechanical and electrical products while exporting fewer labor-intensive products such as clothing, shoes, textiles and suitcases in the first nine months.
Exports of mechanical and electrical products climbed 1.3 percent to 5.85 trillion yuan, accounting for about 57.1 percent of the country's total exports in the first three quarters, with export growth especially fast in cell phones, batteries and medical instruments.
In contrast, exports of seven traditional labor-intensive products dropped 2.2 percent to 2.16 trillion yuan, accounting for about 21.1 percent of the total exports in the first three quarters. Of these products, clothing exports dropped 6.6 percent and exports of shoes dropped 4.2 percent.
Heavyweight provinces such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian maintained relatively stable foreign trade performance, with Guangdong, the country's largest province in terms of foreign trade volume, edging up 0.9 percent year on year. Foreign trade grew 1.2 percent year on year in Zhejiang, 2.4 percent in Fujian and 15.1 percent in Henan.
The State Council has rolled out a series of policies to boost foreign trade, and foreign trade in the fourth quarter is expected to be better than in the third quarter, Huang said.
China's cabinet issued guidelines in July urging governments at all levels to implement measures to foster imports and exports, as the country strives to open its markets wider and upgrade its economy.
(Updated)
