China-EU freight train Photo: cnsphoto

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday that trade between China and the EU will maintain a healthy growth trend, despite exchange rate fluctuation.

The remarks came after the 9th China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue held on Tuesday, where the two sides agreed to promote pragmatic cooperation in the economic and trade fields and vowed to enhance the stability of China-EU cooperation to better cope with global economic headwinds.

"We have always encouraged and supported enterprises to view exchange rate changes objectively, proactively adapt to exchange rate changes, and continuously improve exchange rate risk management capabilities through market-based approaches such as exchange rate hedging tools, so as to operate more prudently," Shu Jueting, MOFCOM spokesperson, said.

The exchange rate of the yuan against the euro has risen strongly since May. Meanwhile, the euro has weakened substantially against the US dollar this year amid an aggressive US tightening cycle. 

On July 13, the euro slid below parity with the dollar for the first time in almost two decades. The eurozone currency has since hovered around dollar parity. 

The European Central Bank on Thursday surprised the market with a hike of 50 basis points (bps) of its benchmark interest rates, the first increase since 2011. 

Since the beginning of this year, China-EU trade has maintained stable development. Chinese Customs data showed that bilateral trade in the first half of the year reached $420.6 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent year-on-year. 

It is expected to maintain healthy development momentum throughout the year, Shu added. 

China has maintained a sound connection with the EU via the China-EU freight trains, as the number of trips made by China-Europe freight trains rose to 7,514 in the first half of the year, carrying 724,000 standard containers, per data from China's Foreign Ministry. 

The cargo trains have become a "stabilizer" and "acceleration valve" for smooth China-Europe trade, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday. 

Wang said that from 2016 to 2021, the annual number of China-Europe freight trains increased from 1,702 to 15,183, with an average annual growth rate of 55 percent.

The annual transport value increased from $8 billion to $74.9 billion, and the main products expanded to more than 50,000 types today.

The EU and China held the long-awaited 9th China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue on Tuesday.

A spokesperson from MOFCOM said that China and the EU agreed during the dialogue to jointly ensure the safety and smoothness of trade channels, including China-Europe freight trains, and enhance communication and exchanges in industry supply chains. 

Both sides will also further promote two-way opening-up and regulatory cooperation in the financial industry, and they welcome qualified financial institutions to invest in each other's markets.

Global Times