General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) announced that in the first two months of 2023, China’s imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled US$423.04billion, 13.8 percent lower than a year prior. The exports decreased by 7.2 percent to US$294.05 billion, and the imports dropped by 25.8 percent to US$128.99 billion. The trade balance of mechanical and electrical products expanded US$21.92 billion to US$165.06 billion in surplus.

In the first two months of 2023, exports of automatic data processing machines and parts thereof, integrated circuits, household appliances, lighting equipment and other key traditional industries in the mechanical and electrical field decreased. The exports of automatic data processing machines and parts thereof decreased by 32.1 percent, continuing the downward trend since August 2022. The shipments of mobile phones reduced but the average price increased, which supported the export value increased by 2 percent to US$23.68 billion.

The boom in the export of motor vehicles since October 2020 continued. The shipments and export value grew by 43.2 percent and 65.2 percent respectively, maintaining the positive growth for 29 consecutive months.

Weak demand in the downstream industry led to a continued downturn in integrated circuits. Previously, the shipments and exports of integrated circuits have been continuously reduced for 10 and 6 months, and the import volume and value have been continuously reduced for 13 and 8 months respectively. In the first two months of 2023, China's integrated circuits export continued to decline, with year-on-year decrease of 20.9 percent in shipments and 25.8 percent in exports, and import volume and value decreased by 26.5 percent and 30.5 percent respectively. The proportion of integrated circuits with the imports of US$47.83 billion in China's total goods imports accordingly decreased from 15.3 percent in 2021 to 12.3 percent at present.

Data Source:  www.customs.gov.cn