According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of 2014, China's total import and export value was 5.9 trillion yuan, a decrease of 3.7% compared to the same period last year. Among them, exports amounted to 3 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6.1%; Imports amounted to 2.9 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.2%; The trade surplus was 102.83 billion yuan, narrowing by 60.9%.

In March, China's total import and export value was 2.03 trillion yuan, a decrease of 11.5%. Among them, exports amounted to 1.04 trillion yuan, a decrease of 9.2%; Imports amounted to 0.99 trillion yuan, a decrease of 13.8%; The trade surplus was 46.86 billion yuan, compared to a trade deficit of 6.71 billion yuan in the same period last year.

Calculated in US dollars, China's total import and export value in the first quarter was 965.88 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1%. Among them, exports amounted to 491.31 billion US dollars, a decrease of 3.4%; Imports amounted to 474.57 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.6%; The trade surplus was 16.74 billion US dollars, narrowing by 59.7%.

In March, China's total import and export value was 332.52 billion US dollars, a decrease of 9%. Among them, exports amounted to 170.11 billion US dollars, a decrease of 6.6%; Imports amounted to 162.41 billion US dollars, a decrease of 11.3%; The trade surplus was 7.71 billion US dollars, compared to a trade deficit of 960 million US dollars in the same period last year.

1、 The main characteristics of China's foreign trade imports and exports in the first quarter of this year are as follows

（1） General trade has steadily grown, while processing trade has significantly declined. In the first quarter, China's general trade imports and exports amounted to 3.26 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.4%, accounting for 55.2% of China's total foreign trade value. The deficit under general trade was 222.38 billion yuan, an increase of 76.9%. During the same period, China's processing trade imports and exports amounted to 1.87 trillion yuan, a decrease of 8%, accounting for 31.6% of China's total foreign trade value. The surplus under processing trade was 503.4 billion yuan, narrowing by 4.9%.

（2） Trade with major partners such as Europe, America, Japan, and ASEAN has increased, while trade with Hong Kong has significantly decreased. In the first quarter, the total value of bilateral trade between China and Europe was 835.73 billion yuan, an increase of 6.3%, accounting for 14.2% of China's total foreign trade value. The total value of bilateral trade between China and the United States was 749.22 billion yuan, an increase of 0.9%, accounting for 12.7% of China's total foreign trade value. The total value of bilateral trade with ASEAN was 642.93 billion yuan, an increase of 2%, accounting for 10.9% of China's total foreign trade value. The total value of bilateral trade between China and Japan was 456.54 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6%, accounting for 7.7% of China's total foreign trade value.

In the first quarter, the total value of bilateral trade between mainland China and Hong Kong was 460.32 billion yuan, a decrease of 33.3%, accounting for 7.8% of the total value of mainland China's foreign trade.

（3） The proportion of total foreign trade in seven provinces and cities, including Guangdong and Jiangsu, has declined, with strong export momentum in the central and western regions. In the first quarter, Guangdong's total import and export value was 1.36 trillion yuan, continuing to rank first in the country. During the same period, the total import and export value of Jiangsu and Shanghai was 777.03 billion and 669.3 billion yuan respectively, while the import and export value of Beijing (including central units in Beijing) was 666.43 billion yuan. In addition, the total import and export value of Zhejiang, Shandong, and Fujian was 464.11 billion yuan, 402.94 billion yuan, and 237.28 billion yuan, respectively. The total import and export value of the seven provinces and cities mentioned above accounts for 77.6% of my total import and export value, a decrease of 3.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

From the perspective of exports, in the first quarter, the export growth rates of some central and western provinces and cities such as Chongqing, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu were 61.4%, 14.8%, 13.8%, 38.9%, and 1.1 times respectively, which were significantly higher than the overall export growth rate of China during the same period.

（4） The import and export of foreign-invested enterprises and private enterprises have decreased, while the import and export of state-owned enterprises have increased. In the first quarter, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises reached 2.72 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.2%, accounting for 46.1% of China's total foreign trade value. The import and export of private enterprises reached 1.9 trillion yuan, a decrease of 9.1%, accounting for 32.2%.

During the same period, the import and export of state-owned enterprises reached 1.13 trillion yuan, an increase of 2%, accounting for 19.1%.

（5） The export of electromechanical products and traditional labor-intensive products has declined. In the first quarter, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products amounted to 1.71 trillion yuan, a decrease of 8.8%, accounting for 56.9% 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, bags, and toys, amounted to 593.18 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.7%, accounting for 19.8%.

（6） The import volume of major commodities has increased while the price has decreased. In the first quarter, China imported 222 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 19.4%, with an average import price of 781.9 yuan per ton, a decrease of 8%; 83.964 million tons of coal, an increase of 5.1%, with an average import price of 493.7 yuan per ton, a decrease of 14.2%; 74.724 million tons of crude oil, an increase of 8.3%, with an average import price of 4817.1 yuan per ton, a decrease of 4.7%; 15.346 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 33.5%, with an average import price of 3516.1 yuan per ton, a decrease of 10%; Copper reached 1.334 million tons, an increase of 37.8%, with an average import price of 46200 yuan per ton, a decrease of 11.2%. During the same period, imported refined oil products amounted to 8.542 million tons, a decrease of 18.1%, with an average import price of 4886.9 yuan per ton, a decrease of 1%. In addition, 308000 imported cars increased by 42.5%.

2、 The export leading index shows a relatively optimistic outlook for future exports

In March of this year, the leading index of China's foreign trade exports was 41.7, an increase of 0.4 compared to the previous month. The average index from January to March this year was 41.6, a significant increase from 39.4 in the fourth quarter of last year. It is expected that China's exports will be relatively optimistic in the second quarter of this year, and the growth rate will rebound compared to the first quarter.