China's foreign merchandise trade volume fell by 1.5% 11 percent to $592.000 billion during the first two months of 2020, due to disruptions caused by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, according to official data released this Saturday (07.03.2020).
China's General Administration of Customs reported that the Exports fell 17,2 percent year-on-year and reached 292.500 billion dollars, while the Imports fell by 4 percent and stood at $299.500 billion.
During the period there was a Trade deficit of $7.090 billion, while in the same period in 2019 there was a trade surplus of 41.500 billion dollars.
Trade with Southeast Asia increases
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) became China's largest trading partner in the first two months.
The combined trade volume between China and ASEAN rose 2 percent to 594.100 billion yuan (85.680 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 14,4 percent of the total.
Bucking the downward trend, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road stood at 1,31 trillion yuan, up 1,8 percent year on year.
During the January-February 2020 period, China's trade with the European Union, United States y Japan decreased by 14,2, 19,6, and 15,3 percent, respectively.
The value of imports and exports showed an upward trend in February, an official with the administration said, adding that 80,6 percent of the surveyed foreign trade enterprises have resumed work.
The virus, a “temporary impact”
The epidemic will only have a temporary impact on China's foreign trade, rather than changing its long-term positive development trend, the official said.
Starting this year, the administration will publish foreign trade data for the first two months jointly in March, in line with the publication of data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Source: Xinhua
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