On April 17th, the reporter learned from Hangzhou Customs that in the first quarter this year, Zhejiang's foreign trade saw a good start, with the scale of imports and exports, exports, and imports hitting a new high compared with the same period in history, and the growth rate was the highest in nearly six quarters. According to statistics from Hangzhou Customs, the total import and export value of the province in the first quarter was 1.21 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Among them, exports were 874.63 billion yuan, an increase of 6.6%, and imports were 331.88 billion yuan, an increase of 11.3%.

Judging from the data, Zhejiang's foreign trade took on five main characteristics in the first quarter:

First, the growth rate of imports and exports with BRI partner countries was higher than the overall rate, and the "circle of friends" in emerging markets continued to consolidate. In the first quarter, the province's imports and exports to ASEAN, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa were 168.50 billion yuan, 143.80 billion yuan, 131.17 billion yuan, and 92.26 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 6.7%, 9.7%, 18.1%, and 9.2%, accounting for 43.8% of the province's total import and export value, an increase of  1.1 percentage points. The imports and exports to BRI partner countries reached 629.30 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2%, accounting for 52.2% of the province's total import and export value, driving the province's foreign trade growth by 4.3 percentage points. In addition, imports and exports to the United States and Australia were 161.16 billion yuan and 42.01 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 10.8% and 16.9%.

Secondly, the imports and exports of private enterprises steadily increased, while the expansion of foreign-funded enterprises accelerated. In the first quarter, the imports and exports of private enterprises in the province reached 968.15 billion yuan, an increase of 9.0%, accounting for 80.2% of the province's foreign trade, an increase of 0.8percentage points. The number of foreign-funded enterprises with actual trade performance reached 6,217 in the province, an increase of 4.3%, and the scales of imports and exports, exports, and imports were 152.62 billion yuan, 94.96 billion yuan, and 57.66 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 3.4%, 1.8%, and 6.2%, all maintaining year-on-year growth for two consecutive quarters.

Thirdly, the export share of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products both increased in the country. In the first quarter, the province's export of mechanical and electrical products reached 407.33 billion yuan, an increase of 8.3%, accounting for 12.0% of the national share, an increase of 0.2percentage points. Among them, the export of automobile spare parts and ships reached 24.72 billion yuan and 4.56 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 17.3% and 1.1 times, driving a total export growth of 0.7percentage points in the province. Meanwhile, the export of labor-intensive products reached 266.45 billion yuan, an increase of 11.6%, accounting for 30.5% of the province's exports, an increase of 1.4percentage points, and a national share of 27.3%, an increase of 0.6percentage points, maintaining its position as the largest province in labor-intensive product exports in China.

Fourth, bulk commodities such as energy and metal ores saw expansion in import. In the first quarter, the province imported 21.083 million tons of energy products, an increase of 6.7%; and 48.464 million tons of metal ore sand, an increase of 46.0%, altogether accounting for 33.2% of the total import value of the province. In the same period, the import of mechanical and electrical products reached 40.78 billion yuan, an increase of 2.1%, while the import of consumer goods reached 33.95 billion yuan, an increase of 6.2%.

Fifth, market procurement saw continuous growth in export, and the growth rate of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports was better than that of the whole country. In the first quarter, the province's market procurement export reached 114.21 billion yuan, an increase of 9.5%, driving the province's export growth by 1.2percentage points. Meanwhile, the imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce increased by 11.6%, 2.0percentage points higher than the growth rate of the whole country.