* China's foreign trade grew at a faster pace in thefirst four months of the year amid uncertain external demand, trade risks andother challenges.

* China's total imports and exports expanded 5.8percent year on year to 13.32 trillion yuan (about 1.92 trillion U.S. dollars)in the period, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Tuesday. Thegrowth rate accelerated by 1 percentage point from the pace recorded in thefirst quarter.

* The country's foreign trade maintained soundmomentum of steady growth, said Lyu Daliang, an official with the GAC.

BEIJING,May 9 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade grew at a faster pace in the first fourmonths of the year amid uncertain external demand, trade risks and otherchallenges.

China'stotal imports and exports expanded 5.8 percent year on year to 13.32 trillionyuan (about 1.92 trillion U.S. dollars) in the period, the GeneralAdministration of Customs (GAC) said Tuesday. The growth rate accelerated by 1percentage point from the pace recorded in the first quarter.

Thecountry's foreign trade maintained sound momentum of steady growth, said LyuDaliang, an official with the GAC.

China'stotal imports and exports expanded 5.8 percent year on year to 13.32 trillionyuan in the first four months of 2023, official data showed Tuesday. (Xinhua)

FromJanuary to April, the growth rate of China's trade with the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union stood at 13.9 percentand 4.2 percent, respectively, the data showed.

China'strade with Belt and Road (B&R) countries jumped by 16 percent year on yearto 4.61 trillion yuan in the period.

Inparticular, the country's trade with five Central Asian countries --Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- surged 37.4percent year on year.

In theJanuary-April period, private enterprises saw a fast growth rate as imports andexports increased by 15.8 percent to 7.05 trillion yuan, accounting for morethan half of the country's total.

Interms of types of goods, exports of mechanical and electrical products expandedby 10.5 percent to account for 57.9 percent of the total exports.

Drivenby robust exports of new energy vehicles, automobile exports soared 120.3percent year on year during the period.

Amonthly customs survey showed that the proportion of enterprises with growingexport orders had increased for four consecutive months.

InApril alone, foreign trade increased 8.9 percent year on year, according to theGAC.

Thisaerial photo taken on Jan. 13, 2023 shows a view of the container terminal ofHaikou Port in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

Chinahas recently introduced new policies to stabilize the scale of foreign tradeand improve its structure, which will help boost confidence and vitality offoreign trade enterprises and promote the stability and quality of foreigntrade throughout the year, Lyu said.

Tokeep the scale of foreign trade stable, China will resume offline exhibitionsand international passenger flights, carry out measures on the country-specifictrade guidelines, help automobile enterprises establish and improve theinternational marketing service system, and meet the financing needs of medium,small and micro enterprises.

Toimprove foreign trade structure, China will guide processing trade to betransferred to the central, western and northeastern regions, formulate greenand low-carbon standards for some foreign trade products, guide enterprises tomake good use of cross-border e-commerce retail export related tax policies andimprove the efficiency of customs clearance.

Peoplevisit the 133rd session of China Import and Export Fair, also known as CantonFair, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, April 15, 2023.(Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Despitedifficulties in the sector, China's foreign trade has exhibited notableresilience and is expected to maintain steady growth, analysts said.

Lookingforward, China's imports and exports are expected to achieve double-digitgrowth throughout the year, indicating that foreign trade could continue to bestrong support for the country's economic development, said Wei Jianguo, vicechairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Meanwhile,officials and analysts warned of challenges including global inflation,weakening external demand, and global uncertainties from protectionism andgeopolitical risks.

Accordingto the International Monetary Fund forecast in April, the world economy mightgrow 2.8 percent in 2023, 0.1 percentage points lower than its Januaryforecast.

"Tradecontinues to be a force for resilience in the global economy, but it willremain under pressure from external factors in 2023," saidDirector-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

"Thismakes it even more important for governments to avoid trade fragmentation andrefrain from introducing obstacles to trade. Investing in multilateralcooperation on trade would bolster economic growth and people's livingstandards over the long term," she added.

From <https://english.news.cn/20230509/eae53205d24e441382092f461a96d397/c.html>