United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently ran a report on official 2023 data published by the China’s General Customs Administration. According the data, which are denominated in U.S. dollars, 2023 exports fell by 4.6 percent year-over-year, imports fell by 5.5 percent year over year, and aggregate imports and exports decreased by 5.0 percent year-over-year. China’s annual trade surplus was US$823.22 billion.
The last time that China experienced a decline in USD-denominated exports was seven years ago, in 2016, when exports fell by 7.7 percent.
At the “2023 Imports and Exports Press Conference” held by China’s State Council Information Office, official RMB-denominated data were released. Priced in RMB, China’s 2023 exports increased by 0.6 percent year-over-year, imports decreased by 0.3 percent year-over-year, and aggregate imports and exports increased by 0.2 percent year-over-year.
| in USD | in RMB | |
|---|---|---|
| Exports | -4.6% | +0.6% |
| Imports | -5.5% | -0.3% |
| Aggregate | -5.0% | +0.2% |
Wang Lingjun, deputy director of China’s General Customs Administration, said “the complexity, severity, and uncertainty of the external environment have increased. To further promote the stable growth of international trade, China needs to overcome some difficulties and make more efforts.”
Source: UDN, January 12, 2024
https://udn.com/news/story/7333/7703838