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China's September foreign trade reported an 8.3 percent year-on-year increase in yuan terms, maintains the growth momentum from the previous months despite concerns over a weakening overseas demand and a possible global economic recession.

In September, China's foreign trade reached 3.81 trillion yuan ($525.4 billion), an increase of 8.3 percent on a yearly basis. Among them, exports reached 2.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.7 percent, imports saw an increase of 5.2 percent, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Monday.

Trade surplus amounted to 573.57 billion yuan, an increase of 29.9 percent. 

In dollar terms, September foreign trade went up by 3.4 percent, with imports seeing an increase of 0.3 percent and exports going up by 5.7 percent year-on-year.

Chinese observers noted that resilience from the world's second-largest economy will also convey certainties to the world amid rising geopolitical tensions and disrupted industrial chains, though they also warned that the export surge likely won't last forever.

ASEAN remained the top trading partner, accounting for 15.1 percent of China's total foreign trade between January and September. China's trade with its top three trading partners - ASEAN, the EU and the US - grew 15.2 percent, 9 percent, and 8 percent respectively year-on-year, with a total trade of 4.7 trillion yuan, 4.23 trillion yuan, and 3.8 trillion yuan respectively.  

South Korea was China's fourth largest trading partner over the period, with bilateral trade reaching 1.81 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1 percent. Trade with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) economies jumped 20.7 percent. 

In particular, China's trade with Russia surged by 32.5 percent on a yearly basis in the first nine months of the year, with imports seeing a surge of 51.6 percent.

In the first three quarters of the year, China's imports and exports were valued 31.11 trillion yuan, up 9.9 percent from a year ago. The exports increased 13.8 percent year-on-year to 17.67 trillion yuan, while the imports totaled 13.44 trillion yuan, rising 5.2 percent on a yearly basis.

The trade surplus during the same period reached 4.23 trillion yuan, surging 53.7 percent year-on-year.

A close follower of Chinese macro economy told the Global Times on Monday that it could be observed from the September export data that China is continuing to upgrade its products structure and the momentum has not been significantly affected by the US interest rate hike or the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, moreover the nation's export momentum is no longer driven by some products of lower industrial added value.

While exports of cars saw a continuous surge, mobile phones, integrated circuits and other electrical appliances also maintained a high export volume, the observer said.

Customs data showed that China's export of mechanical and electrical products was 10.04 trillion yuan, an increase of 10 percent year-on-on in the first three quarters, accounting for 56.8 percent of the total export value. Among them, exports of mobile phones were 672.25 billion yuan, an increase of 7.8 percent. The momentum of car exports was particularly strong, reaching 259.84 billion yuan and saw a significant jump of 67.1 percent.

Global Times