On the 14th, the General Administration of Customs released data: In the first quarter of this year, China's import and export of goods was 10.3 trillion yuan, and the cumulative growth rate turned from negative to positive, an increase of 1.3% year-on-year; the monthly growth rate gradually recovered, from a year-on-year decrease of 2.2% in January to basically the same period in February, and then to a growth of 6% in March. China's import and export growth rate in the first quarter came out of an upward line.

The scale of imports and exports exceeded 10 trillion yuan for eight consecutive quarters; the export scale exceeded 6 trillion yuan in the first quarter, accelerating by 3.5 percentage points to 6.9% compared with the previous two months, and the exports to more than 170 countries and regions have achieved growth... The positive changes presented by a number of data have become a powerful witness to the growth of China's foreign trade scale and quality improvement.

This is the foreign trade container terminal of Qingdao Port, Shandong Port, taken on February 23 (drone photo). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yu Fangping)

■The activity of various foreign trade operators has been further improved.

In the first quarter, China's import and export performance reached 529,000, an increase of 33,000 over the same period last year. Among them, the number of private enterprises hit a record high in the same period, accounting for 86.1% of the total number of enterprises with import and export performance in the same period, with import and export of 5.85 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%; the number of foreign-invested enterprises hit a record high in the same period in the past three years, with import and export of 2.99 trillion yuan, achieving growth for four consecutive quarters.

On March 11, in the workshop of Ningbo Haoyunte Electric Appliances Co., Ltd. in Henghe Town, Cixi City, workers assembled a batch of exported garden tools on the assembly line. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yu

■Main provinces shoulder heavy burdens and further optimize regional layout.

In the first quarter, the seven major provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong and Fujian had a total import and export of 7.78 trillion yuan, a continuous growth trend, accounting for three-quarters of China's total import and export value. The central and western regions continue to leverage their own advantages, undertake industrial transfer in an orderly manner, and further release foreign trade potential. The growth rate of imports and exports in the first quarter was 7.4 percentage points higher than the overall national growth rate. Imports and exports through the Western Land-Sea New Channel increased by 17.3% year-on-year, and imports and exports to neighboring countries increased by 7.7%.

On March 21, the X8489 China-Europe Express, full of cargo, was preparing to depart at Xi'an International Port Station. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo

■ Market diversification has made "new performance" and the space for cooperation has been further expanded.

In the first quarter, in terms of traditional markets, China's imports and exports to Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries achieved rapid growth. In terms of emerging markets, the scale of imports and exports to countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" reached a new record high in the same period, with a growth rate of 0.9 percentage points higher than the overall. Among them, ASEAN continued to firmly rank as China's largest trading partner, with imports and exports increasing by 7.1% year-on-year, accounting for 16.6% of China's overall foreign trade, and imports and exports to the five Central Asian countries increased by 6.9%.

This is the Orchard Port (drone photo) in Liangjiang New District, Chongqing, taken on February 25. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi

Industry insiders said that with the increasing number of external difficulties and challenges, the overall stability of imports and exports in the first quarter highlighted the resilience and competitiveness of China's foreign trade. In particular, the frequent emergence of highlights towards "new" and the "multiple blooming" of the export market have become important support for China's foreign trade to deal with uncertainty, demonstrating the vitality and great potential of China's foreign trade.

"At present, my country's exports are indeed facing a complex and severe external situation, but the 'the sky cannot fall'." Lu Daliang, Director of the Statistical Analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, said at a press conference of the State Information Office on the 14th that my country actively builds a diversified market and deepens industrial chain and supply chain cooperation with all parties, which not only empowers the other party's development, but also enhances our own resilience.

Reporter: Zhu Xiaoguang, Li Duojiang, Zhou Shengbin