China ASEAN Photo:VCG

Since the inception of the China-ASEAN Expo, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN countries has experienced rapid growth, with an average annual increase of 11 percent from 2004 to 2023, China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Friday. The remarks came ahead of the upcoming expo, which is set to open next week.

The 21st China-ASEAN Expo is set to be held in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, from September 24 to 28, serving as a crucial platform for deepening practical cooperation between China and ASEAN members.

The 11 percent growth rate has outpaced the overall growth of China's foreign trade by 3 percent in the same period. ASEAN's share of China's total foreign trade also rose from 9.2 percent in 2004 to 15.4 percent in 2023, according to data from the GAC.

In the first eight months of this year, trade between China and ASEAN reached 4.5 trillion yuan ($638 billion), marking a year-on-year increase of 10 percent and accounting for 15.7 percent of China's total foreign trade during the same period. ASEAN has solidified its position as China's largest trading partner, according to the customs data.

Cooperation between private business and trade of intermediate goods and agricultural products have experienced notable increases, the GAC said.

Customs statistics reveal that in the first eight months, China's private enterprises engaged in 2.8 trillion-yuan worth of trade with ASEAN, reflecting a 13.3 percent increase and constituting 62.2 percent of China's total trade with ASEAN, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous year. 

Trade of intermediate goods continued its robust growth in the first eight months, reaching 2.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent.

In the first eight months of this year, China imported 161.34-billion-yuan worth of agricultural products from ASEAN.

Global Times