CBN丨China's foreign trade up 4.9% in first 11 months

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• China's foreign trade grew 4.9% in the first 11 months, sustaining stable growth;
• CPC leadership meeting stressed the need to boost fiscal and monetary policies in 2025.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

China's foreign trade of goods increased by 4.9 percent year-on-year to reach 39.79 trillion yuan ($5.49 trillion) in the first 11 months this year, demonstrating stable growth and economic structural improvements, official data showed on Tuesday.

According to the General Administration of Customs (GAC), exports rose 6.7 percent year-on-year to reach 23.04 trillion yuan, while imports edged up 2.4 percent year-on-year to reach 16.75 trillion yuan in the first 11 months.

Thanks to the government's package of pro-growth policies, the country's foreign trade volume registered a 1.2-percent increase year-on-year in November alone in yuan-denominated terms, totaling 3.75 trillion yuan, with monthly foreign trade volume maintaining growth in a consecutive of eight months, according to the GAC.

In the first 11 months, foreign trade handled by private enterprises accounted for 55.3 percent of the country's total trade, representing a 2-percentage-point increase from the same period last year, GAC data showed.

Throughout the period, ASEAN held its position as China's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching 6.29 trillion yuan in the first 11 months, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier, representing 15.8 percent of the country's total foreign trade. It was followed by the EU with bilateral trade reaching 5.09 trillion yuan and the US at 4.44 trillion yuan.

China's trade with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 18.74 trillion yuan, an increase of 6 percent year-on-year.

Recently, a State Council executive meeting reviewed and approved new policy measures to drive the steady growth of foreign trade. The Ministry of Commerce and the GAC also announced measures to optimize the business environment at its ports and streamline customs clearance process for foreign trade companies. 

• China on Monday said the country would implement a more proactive fiscal policy and a looser monetary policy next year. The announcement came after the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee met to analyze and study the economic work of 2025. It urged implementing a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy. It is necessary to enrich and improve the policy toolkit, strengthen unconventional counter-cyclical adjustments, intensify the coordination of various policies, and make the macro regulation more forward-looking, targeted and effective, the meeting noted. The country should vigorously boost consumption, improve the investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand on all fronts, it said.

Greater Bay Area, Greater future

• Guangdong Province plans to enhance trade and industrial integration with the Macao SAR, officials said on Monday, as trade between Guangdong and Macao in the first 10 months reached 15.88 billion yuan this year, exceeding last year's total.
• Hong Kong's largest artificial intelligence supercomputing center officially commenced operation Monday. Located in Cyberport, the supercomputing center is expected to deliver up to 3,000 petaFLOPS of computing power -- capable of processing 10 billion images in just one hour. 

Next on industry and company news

• China's NEV market continued to see robust growth in November, with retail sales reaching nearly 1.27 million units, marking a 50.5 percent year-on-year increase and a 5.9 percent jump from the previous month. During the first 11 months of the year, total retail sales of NEVs amounted to 9.59 million units, representing a 41.2 percent increase from the previous year. China's top EV maker BYD recorded its fastest-growing month in 2024, with delivery of 3.76 million in the first 11 months, on track to top its 2024 sales goal.
• The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's top market regulator, announced on Monday it has launched an investigation into Nvidia over suspected violations of China's Anti-monopoly Law and a notice on the 2020 antitrust review decision regarding the approval of Nvidia's acquisition of chip designer Mellanox Technologies with additional restrictive conditions.
• China’s fixed-asset investment in railroad networks rose 11 percent to 711 billion yuan in the first 11 months from a year earlier, the China Railway Group said today. The country had over 160,000 km of railroad in use as of Nov. 30, of which 46,000 km were high-speed.

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

• China's A-share market rallied at the opening on Tuesday, following last night’s news that the CPC leadership’s meeting emphasizing the need for a more proactive fiscal policy. The Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.6 percent higher after rising by 2.58 percent at the opening, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed up 0.75 percent after jumping 3.66 percent. The total turnover of the A-share market hit 2.2 trillion yuan. Despite a strong start in the morning, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 0.5 percent lower and the TECH index dropped 1.4 percent.

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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