Exports to China grow against the trend, and many countries feel the warmth of the Chinese market
Beijing, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Many countries feel the warmth of the Chinese market
Xinhua News Agency
The latest data shows that under the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, many major economies' exports to China rose in 2020, which has become an important support for their economic resilience. International observers believe that China's high-level opening-up and sustained economic recovery have led to a pick-up in demand, providing a broader market and more development opportunities for countries around the world.
Data released by Eurostat in mid-February show that due to the epidemic, EU exports in 2020 fell by 9.4 percent over the previous year, but exports of goods to China increased by 2.2 percent. Among the EU's top 10 trading partners in goods, China is the only one to achieve two-way trade growth.
The preliminary statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance in late January show that Japan's exports in 2020 will fall 11.1 percent from the previous year, affected by a sharp drop in overseas demand for automobiles and other products. However, thanks to China's rapid economic recovery, Japan's exports of non-iron metals, automobiles and plastics to China have increased significantly, driving Japan's exports to China for the whole year up 2.7%.
China's trade with Latin America was stable, with the region's exports to China in 2020 growing by 0.1% over the previous year. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report that due to the impact of the epidemic, exports to Latin America in 2020 fell by 13 percent, including 14 percent to the United States and 13 percent to the European Union. However, thanks to China's rapid control of the epidemic and recovery of economic growth, exports from the region to China have continued to grow after March 2020, driven by exports of agricultural and mineral products.
As the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil's exports to China have remained resilient. According to a report released by the Central Bank of Brazil, Brazil's foreign trade surplus in 2020 will increase by US $2.9 billion compared with 2019, boosted by the good performance of primary products exports to China.
The report said that thanks to the good performance of the export of primary products such as soybeans and iron ore to China, Brazil's export showed strong resilience last year. The share of exports to China increased in all regions of Brazil, "indicating that the impact of China's economic activities on foreign trade across Brazil has generally increased," the report said.
Observers believe that China, with its huge market of 1.4 billion people, is an important engine driving global economic growth. As the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth in 2020, China's rapid economic recovery has strongly promoted the recovery of global demand.
China plays a "very important role" in the European Union's economic return to normal, and some European companies, especially those in the automotive and luxury goods industries, are benefiting from the recovering Chinese market, said Joost Viebeck, a senior analyst with German consulting firm Huayi.
While other major trading partners in Latin America have fallen into recession due to the epidemic, China is the world's only major economy with positive growth in 2020, which is good news for the region's exports, said Bruno de Conti, a Brazilian economist.
At the same time, China has proposed to open up to the outside world in a wider scope, in a wider area and at a deeper level, and better participate in international economic cooperation. This will enable more countries and enterprises to share in China's huge opening market and development opportunities.
China has made great progress in optimizing the business environment and opening up wider to the outside world, and the Chinese market will become more and more attractive as it promotes opening-up at a higher level, said Daniel Shen, president of global high growth regions of Us-Based Honeywell. (Participating reporters: Li Jizhi, Liu Chunyan, Xi Yue, Gong Ruohan, Pan Geping, Pan Lijun and Zhang Mocheng)