General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) announced that in 2022, China’s exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled US$2052.77 billion, which was the first time to exceed US$2 trillion, with a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent from the high base and an increase of 15.4 percent of three-year compound growth rate, accounting for 57.1 percent of China’s merchandise exports. Imports dropped by 8.2 percent to US$1045.85 billion, with an increase of 5.0 percent of three-year compound growth rate, accounting for 38.5 percent of the merchandise imports. The imports and exports of China’s mechanical and electrical products totaled US$3098.62 billion for the whole year. The trade surplus expanded for six consecutive years and exceeded US$1 trillion for the first time.

Monthly exports were better than the imports, but the downward trend appears. By October 2022, China’s exports of mechanical and electrical products had increased for 29 consecutive months. However, affected by weak demand, the recovery of supply in emerging countries and the high base of the previous year, the decline in exports of key industries was generally expanded, resulting in a decrease of 12.7 percent to US$177.02billion in December. The imports of mechanical and electrical products reached US$85.97 billion, which decreased by 19.4 percent year-on-year, the negative growth for the tenth consecutive month.

In 2022, due to the demand for durable consumer goods decreased, high base and industrial structural characteristics, exports of computers, mobile phones, household appliances, lighting equipment and other key traditional industries in the mechanical and electrical field decreased. Shipments of mobile phones was 822 million of the whole year, which was the lowest over the past 12 years, while supported by the average price of high-end model, the cumulative exports of mobile phones decreased by 2.5 percent to US$142.67 billion; Exports of automatic data processing machines and parts thereof has declined for five consecutive months, with cumulative exports of US$235.96 billion of the whole year, decreased by 7.5 percent year on year; Exports of household appliances continued to decline, and the shipments and exports fell for 14 consecutive months and 11 consecutive months respectively, with the cumulative exports of US$85.5 billion of the whole year, decreased by 13.3 percent year on year.

Affected by the sluggish demand of the downstream consumer electronics industry, the import and export of integrated circuits continued to decline. Whose shipments fell for 10 consecutive months, and driven by the increase in unit price, the total exports grew by 0.3 percent to US$153.92 billion of the whole year; Since December 2021, the import volume of integrated circuits has dropped continuously for 13 months, and the annual imports dropped by 3.9 percent to US$415.58 billion, which still remains the single commodity with the highest imports in China, accounting for 15.3 percent of the merchandise imports.

Emerging industries continue to release growth potential. Exports of solar cells and lithium batteries increased by 67.8 percent and 86.7 percent in RMB respectively; Energy vehicles drove exports of motor vehicles to maintain boom, driving exports of mechanical and electrical products to increase by 1.3 ppt of the whole year. The shipments and export value of motor vehicles grew by 56.8 percent and 74.7 percent respectively, maintaining the positive growth for 27 consecutive months.

Data Source: www.customs.gov.cn