China's import and export value in 2016 was 24.33 trillion yuan, down 0.9 percent from 2015, Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs, said at a press conference held by the State Information Office on the import and export situation in 2016. Among them, the export value was 13.84 trillion yuan, down by 2%; Imports were 10.49 trillion yuan, up 0.6 percent; And the trade surplus narrowed by 9.1 percent to 3.35 trillion yuan.

The specific situation mainly consists of the following aspects:

First, import and export stabilized quarter by quarter, and both imports and exports achieved positive growth in the fourth quarter. In 2016, China's import and export showed a low and then high, stable and good trend quarter by quarter. In the first quarter, the value of China's import and export, export and import fell by 8.2%, 7.9% and 8.6% respectively. In the second quarter, the value of import and export dropped by 1.1 percent, export by 0.8 percent and import by 1.5 percent. In the third quarter, the value of imports and exports increased by 0.8 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, while the value of exports decreased by 0.3 percent. In the fourth quarter, the value of imports and exports increased by 3.8 percent, 0.3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.

2. Import and export of general trade increased, and the proportion increased. In 2016, China's import and export volume in general trade reached 13.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.9%, accounting for 55% of the total value of China's import and export volume and 1 percentage point higher than that in 2015. The structure of trade patterns was improved.

3. Exports to some countries along the Belt and Road increased. In 2016, China's exports to Pakistan, Russia, Poland, Bangladesh and India increased by 11 percent, 14.1 percent, 11.8 percent, 9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. In the same period, China's exports to the EU increased by 1.2 percent, those to the US increased slightly by 0.1 percent, and those to ASEAN fell by 2 percent, which together accounted for 46.7 percent of the total value of China's exports.

Fourth, the share of private enterprises in China's exports remained the first. In 2016, the import and export of China's private enterprises reached 9.28 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.2 percent, accounting for 38.1 percent of China's total foreign trade. Among them, the export volume was 6.35 trillion yuan, down 0.2%, accounting for 45.9% of the total export value, maintaining the leading position in export share. Imports increased by 8.1 percent.

5. Mechanical and electrical products and traditional labor-intensive products remained the main export force. In 2016, China's export of mechanical and electrical products was 7.98 trillion yuan, down 1.9 percent and accounting for 57.7 percent of China's total export value. Among them, the export of medical instruments and instruments increased by 6.1 percent, and the export of batteries increased by 4 percent. During the same period, exports of traditional labor-intensive products totaled 2.88 trillion yuan, down 1.7 percent and accounting for 20.8 percent of the total export value. Among them, exports of textiles, toys and plastic products increased.

Sixth, the import volume of iron ore, crude oil, copper and other bulk commodities maintained growth, and the prices of major imported commodities remained at a low level but the decline was narrowed. In 2016, China imported 1.024 billion tons of iron ore, an increase of 7.5%. 381 million tons of crude oil, up 13.6 percent; 256 million tons of coal, up 25.2 percent; 13.21 million tons of steel, up 3.4 percent; Copper was 4.95 million tons, up 2.9 percent; And 27.84 million tons of refined oil, down 6.5 percent. China's import prices overall fell 2.1 percent in the same period. Among them, the average import price of iron ore fell by 0.5 percent year-on-year, crude oil by 18.6 percent, refined oil by 10.8 percent, coal by 0.1 percent, copper by 6 percent and steel by 5.5 percent, narrowing down from the first half and the first three quarters.

The leading index of China's foreign trade exports continued to rise in July and December. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the leading export index of China's foreign trade rose for three consecutive months, to 37.4 in December, up 0.5, indicating that the pressure on China's export is expected to ease in the first quarter of 2017. Among them, according to the network questionnaire survey data shows that in the same month, China's export managers index fell 0.6 to 39.4; The new export orders index rose by 0.6 to 41.9, the managers' confidence index fell by 2 to 43.5, and the enterprise comprehensive cost index fell by 1.6 to 23.9.

At present, there are still some difficulties in the development of China's foreign trade. The specific manifestations are as follows: the import and export of China's foreign-invested enterprises and state-owned enterprises fell by 2.2% and 5.6% respectively; The import and export of processing trade fell by 4.9%.

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