2.4 Macro economy

In 2012, the second year of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, GDP dropped in the first three quarters to 8.1%, 7.6% and 7.4% respectively. From the year 2011 to Q3 2013, China GDP had slowed down for 7 consecutive quarters. On 18 Jan 2013, National Bureau of Statistics released latest figures showing that, GDP rose to 7.9% in Q4 2012, ending the downturn trend.

According to statistics from the China Customs, in the first nine months 2013, Chinese exports and imports gained 7.7 percent to 3.06 trillion US dollars from the same period 2012, excluding exchange rate factors. Exports rose 8% to 1.61 trillion US dollars and imports rose 7.3% to 1.45 trillion US dollars from the same period 2012. Chinese trade surplus increased by 14.4% to 169.4 billion USD.

Trade with the United States and ASEAN increased. Trade with the United States, China＇s second-largest trade partner, rose 6.7 percent in the first nine months, while that with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members increased 11.6 percent. Bilateral trade between Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong increased by 25.6%. Trade with the European Union, the nation＇s largest trade partner, dipped 0.8 percent year on year during the January-September period. There were signs of recovery for Sino-Japanese foreign trade , with a fall of 7.9% in bilateral trade in Q1-Q3 2013.

Import and export grew steadily in East China, with expanding exports in Central China and West China. In the first three quarters, East China imported and exported 2,582.09 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%, accounting for 84.4% of total value. Exports in Henan, Jiangxi, Hubei and Xinjiang grew by 19.3%, 18.3%, 17.9% and 14.7% respectively, evidently higher than China’s overall growth.

In the first ten months 2013, trade volume between China and EU was USD 456.1 billion, up 0.5% from the same period 2012. China’s exports to EU decreased 0.7% to 275.9 billion US dollars and imports from EU increased 2.4% to 180.2 billion US dollars. China＇s trade surplus with the EU fell 5.19% to 95.7 billion US dollars.

By the end of Sep 2013, EU had a total of 37,869 investment projects in China with an actual investment portfolio of 90.29 billion US dollars. In 2012, 1,605 EU-invested enterprises were newly approved in China, down by 3.6% year on year, with actual investment of 5.35 billion US dollars, up 1.6% year on year. In the first ten months 2013, 1,216 EU-invested enterprises were newly approved in China, down by 14.37% year on year, with actual investment of 6.402 billion US dollars, up 22.26% from the same period 2012. In the first ten months 2013, China’s non-financial direct investment in EU worthed 3.04 billion US dollars, up 98% from the same period 2012.

By the end of Sep 2013, China imported 44,907 technologies from EU, valued at 169.98 billion US dollars. In Jan-Sep 2013 period, China imported 2,658 technologies from EU, valued at 10.78 billion US dollars. The above figures demonstrated an improving Chinese economic situation and close trading partners were heading for positive direction.