China ASEAN trade increased 11% per year in 20 years

According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China (GAC), ASEAN's share of China's total foreign trade has increased from 9.2% in 2004 to 15.4% in 2023. Bilateral trade between the two sides has increased by an average of 11% per year over the past 20 years, far exceeding the country's overall foreign trade growth of 3% over the same period.

In the first eight months of this year, trade between China and ASEAN reached 4.5 trillion yuan (US$638 billion), marking a 10% increase year-on-year and accounting for 15.7% of China's total foreign trade over the same period, further consolidating its position as China's largest trading partner.

Expanding economic and trade exchanges is one of the focuses of promoting cooperation with ASEAN countries of China in the coming time. Deputy Minister of Commerce Li Fei recently said: "China will support the expansion of trade in advantageous agricultural products and finished industrial products with ASEAN countries, actively expand the import of advantageous specialty products from ASEAN countries, jointly promote smooth trade, improve connectivity, gradually enlarge the trade pie and create new trade growth points."

A corner of Vietnam's booth at CAEXPO 2023. Photo: Bich Thuan

Also according to GAC data, cooperation between private enterprises and trade in intermediate goods and agricultural products between the two sides has increased significantly.

In the first eight months of 2024, China's private enterprises engaged in trade worth 2.8 trillion yuan ($397 billion) with ASEAN, up 13.3 percent and accounting for 62.2 percent of China's total trade with ASEAN countries, up 1.8 percentage points year-on-year.

Intermediate goods trade continued to grow by 9.6 percent in the past eight months, reaching 2.84 trillion yuan ($403 billion).

In the agricultural sector, ASEAN became China's second largest source of agricultural imports in 2023, accounting for 15.6% of the country's total agricultural imports. Official data showed that in the first eight months of 2024, China imported 161.34 billion yuan (US$22.88 billion) of agricultural products from ASEAN, with dried and fresh fruits and aquatic products increasing by 0.6% and 2.7% year-on-year, respectively. Tropical fruits such as durian from ASEAN are popular with Chinese consumers.

The 21st China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO 2024) is scheduled to be held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from September 24 to 28. According to information from the organizing committee on September 11, this fair will cover nearly 200,000 square meters, with more than 3,000 participating enterprises.

Source: https://vov.vn/the-gioi/thuong-mai-trung-quoc-asean-tang-11nam-trong-20-nam-post1123032.vov