According to customs foreign trade statistics, in the first quarter of 2013, the total value of my country's foreign trade imports and exports was 974.67 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13.4% after deducting the exchange rate factor. Among them, exports were US$508.87 billion, an increase of 18.4%; imports were US$465.8 billion, an increase of 8.4%; the trade surplus was US$43.07 billion.

Since 2013, the world economy has recovered slowly, but the momentum is not obvious, and the domestic economy is generally running smoothly. Since 2012, the effects of a series of national policies and measures to promote the steady growth of foreign trade have been gradually released. In the first quarter of this year, my country's foreign trade continued the momentum of rebound since the fourth quarter of last year, and continued to maintain stable growth.

According to customs foreign trade statistics, in the first quarter of 2013, the total value of my country's foreign trade imports and exports was 974.67 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13.4% after deducting the exchange rate factor. Among them, exports were US$508.87 billion, an increase of 18.4%; imports were US$465.8 billion, an increase of 8.4%; the trade surplus was US$43.07 billion, while my country's trade surplus in the same period in 2012 was only US$210 million.

In the first quarter of this year, the main situation of my country's foreign trade import and export is as follows:

1. General trade and processing trade grew steadily. In the first quarter, my country's general trade import and export was 486.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 7.4%. It accounts for 49.9% of my country's total foreign trade value. The deficit under the general trade item was US$18.98 billion, a decrease of 63.5%. During the same period, my country's import and export of processing trade was 323.02 billion US dollars, an increase of 6%, accounting for 33.1% of my country's total foreign trade value. The surplus under processing trade was US$84.26 billion, a decrease of 3.6%.

2. Trade with the EU and Japan declined, while trade with the United States and ASEAN grew steadily. In the first quarter, the total value of China-EU bilateral trade was 124.41 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1.9%, accounting for 12.8% of my country's total foreign trade value. The total value of bilateral trade between China and the United States was 118.24 billion US dollars, an increase of 10.8%, accounting for 12.1% of China's total foreign trade value. In the first quarter, the total value of bilateral trade between the mainland and Hong Kong was US$109.88 billion, an increase of 71.2%. Accounted for 11.3% of the total value of the Mainland's foreign trade. The total value of bilateral trade with ASEAN was 100.26 billion US dollars, an increase of 15.5%, accounting for 10.3% of China's total foreign trade value. The total value of bilateral trade between China and Japan was 70.87 billion US dollars, a decrease of 10.7%, accounting for 7.3% of China's total foreign trade value.

3. The total foreign trade of 7 provinces and cities including Guangdong and Jiangsu accounted for 80% of the total value, and the foreign trade exports of the central and western regions grew rapidly. In the first quarter, Guangdong's total import and export value was 289.16 billion US dollars, continuing to rank first in the country. During the same period, the total import and export value of Jiangsu and Shanghai was 119.52 billion US dollars and 101.19 billion US dollars respectively, and Beijing, including the central government units in Beijing, had an import and export value of 103.24 billion US dollars. In addition, the total import and export value of Zhejiang, Shandong and Fujian was 73.87 billion, 59.36 billion and 39.52 billion US dollars respectively. The total import and export value of the above seven provinces and cities accounted for 80.6% of China's total import and export value.
In terms of exports, in the first quarter, exports in the central and western regions maintained rapid growth, and the export growth rates of provinces and cities such as Jiangxi, Anhui, Sichuan and Chongqing were 92.5%, 98.1%, 59.6% and 36.2% respectively.

4. The proportion of foreign-invested enterprises continued to fall, and the import and export of private enterprises increased rapidly. In the first quarter, foreign-invested enterprises imported and exported 438.03 billion US dollars, accounting for 44.9% of China's total foreign trade value, and the proportion fell by 5.7 percentage points compared with the same period last year. In the same period, the import and export of private enterprises was 312.11 billion US dollars, an increase of 53.1%, 39.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade, accounting for 32% of China's total foreign trade value. In addition, state-owned enterprises imported and exported US$175.25 billion, accounting for 18% of China's total foreign trade value.

5. Exports of electromechanical products and traditional labor-intensive products grew steadily. In the first quarter, my country's mechanical and electrical products exported 298.54 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.1%, accounting for 58.7% of China's total foreign trade exports. During the same period, the total export of seven categories of labor-intensive products, including clothing, textiles, footwear, furniture, plastic products, luggage and toys, totaled US$97 billion, an increase of 21.8%, accounting for 19.1% of China's total foreign trade export value.

6. Imports of some energy and resource products decreased. In the first quarter, my country imported 190 million tons of iron ore, basically the same as the same period last year; imported 80 million tons of coal, an increase of 30.1%; imported 68.97 million tons of crude oil, a decrease of 2.3%, and imported 11.49 million tons of soybeans, a decrease of 13.4%. Imported refined oil products were 10.43 million tons, a decrease of 3.4%.