Minister of Commerce Chen Deming predicted at the National Business Work Conference held yesterday that the total import and export volume of China this year was close to 2.2 trillion US dollars, a drop of about 16%.
For the overall poor situation of import and export this year, the industry has already made a conclusion in the third quarter, but the situation is currently developing in a good direction. The data shows that the cumulative import and export decline in the first 11 months of this year has narrowed from 29.1% in January to 17.5%. The total import and export volume in November reached positive growth for the first time after a year of negative growth, and imports were also negative for the first time. Turning positive, the decline in exports has narrowed to 1.2%.
However, the Ministry of Commerce previously said that even in 2010, it is difficult to reach the import and export scale of 2.56 trillion US dollars in 2008. The financial crisis has delayed the development of China's foreign trade for at least two to three years, and may not be able to return to 2008 levels until 2011.
For the focus of China's export work next year, Chen Deming said yesterday that China will promote service exports in key areas in 2010. Increase support for cultural exports, improve policies and measures to promote software exports, and expand exports of Chinese medicine and animation industries. Some experts have analyzed that if there is no major fluctuation in the world economy, China's exports will end negative growth in 2010 and achieve steady growth. The annual import and export will maintain a growth rate of around 15%.