China may overtake US to become world's second largest exporter this year
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
BEIJING, Aug 20 (CEIS): China may overtake the United States to become the world's second largest exporter this year if its current export growth speed continues, said a senior government official here yesterday.
Yu Guangzhou, vice minister of commerce, told the China Economic Development Forum that for now China ranks the third after Germany and the US in terms of export volume, but it is highly possible that China will surpass the US to be next to only Germany within this year.
In 2006, China's export volume trailed that of the US only by less than 70 billion US dollars, while its export growth speed was seven percentage points higher than that of the US. Calculated with the current growth rate, China's export may possibly exceed that of the US by 50 billion US dollars this year.
Observers in Beijing estimated that if China maintains its foreign trade growth rate, it will replace Germany to become the world's top exporter next year. In terms of total foreign trade volume, China will possibly surpass Germany to become world's no 2 this year or by next year, with the US ahead only.
Customs statistics show that in the first half of this year, China's foreign trade volume reached 980.9 billion US dollars, up 23.3 per cent year-on-year. Of this, export grew 27.6 per cent to 546.7 billion dollars, while import grew 18.2 per cent to 434.2 billion dollars.
Yu said that China's foreign trade structure has been gradually optimised through readjusting tax rebate policies and processing trade policies. The export of high energy consuming and high pollution products has dropped sharply.
Meanwhile, Chinese vice premier Zeng Peiyan yesterday called for greater efforts to rejuvenate the old industrial bases in the country's northeast.
Northeast China should make unremitting efforts to optimise the economic structure and develop the manufacturing industry, said Zeng, during his inspection tour of the provinces of Heilongjiang and Liaoning Zeng urged major manufacturers in the region to make breakthroughs in developing and producing power plant equipment, numerical-control machine tools, heavy-duty machines and environmental protection facilities.
The vice premier also stressed further development of the electronics, information, biological and pharmaceutical industries.
Northeast China, with a vast territory, rich resources and a solid industrial foundation, would have bright prospects by improving the efficiency of its economic growth and boosting economic and technical cooperation with neighbouring countries, said Zeng.
Yu Guangzhou, vice minister of commerce, told the China Economic Development Forum that for now China ranks the third after Germany and the US in terms of export volume, but it is highly possible that China will surpass the US to be next to only Germany within this year.
In 2006, China's export volume trailed that of the US only by less than 70 billion US dollars, while its export growth speed was seven percentage points higher than that of the US. Calculated with the current growth rate, China's export may possibly exceed that of the US by 50 billion US dollars this year.
Observers in Beijing estimated that if China maintains its foreign trade growth rate, it will replace Germany to become the world's top exporter next year. In terms of total foreign trade volume, China will possibly surpass Germany to become world's no 2 this year or by next year, with the US ahead only.
Customs statistics show that in the first half of this year, China's foreign trade volume reached 980.9 billion US dollars, up 23.3 per cent year-on-year. Of this, export grew 27.6 per cent to 546.7 billion dollars, while import grew 18.2 per cent to 434.2 billion dollars.
Yu said that China's foreign trade structure has been gradually optimised through readjusting tax rebate policies and processing trade policies. The export of high energy consuming and high pollution products has dropped sharply.
Meanwhile, Chinese vice premier Zeng Peiyan yesterday called for greater efforts to rejuvenate the old industrial bases in the country's northeast.
Northeast China should make unremitting efforts to optimise the economic structure and develop the manufacturing industry, said Zeng, during his inspection tour of the provinces of Heilongjiang and Liaoning Zeng urged major manufacturers in the region to make breakthroughs in developing and producing power plant equipment, numerical-control machine tools, heavy-duty machines and environmental protection facilities.
The vice premier also stressed further development of the electronics, information, biological and pharmaceutical industries.
Northeast China, with a vast territory, rich resources and a solid industrial foundation, would have bright prospects by improving the efficiency of its economic growth and boosting economic and technical cooperation with neighbouring countries, said Zeng.