China has become the top trading partner to 16 out of the 25 Asian countries and has deepened its financial and economic cooperation with Asian countries, according to an annual report of Ministry of Commerce (MoC) released on January 11, which is partly thanks to China's "Belt and Road Initiative", Mysteel understands.
China's trade value with the 25 Asian countries registered $1.17 trillion over January and November 2017, around one third of its total foreign trade value, and the Asian countries of Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia were among China's top ten trading partners, according to MoC.
In the first eleven months of 2017, the 25 Asian countries invested a total of $10.8 billion in China, accounting for 9% of China's total foreign investment and China's direct investment into these 25 Asian countries almost matched what it received, totaling $ 10.7 billion, or 10% of China's total investment abroad.
As for overseas project contracting, China successfully won construction and engineering project in these 25 Asian countries with the value at $83.84 billion for the first eleven months of 2017 and generated a total business revenue at $44.79 billion from these projects, accounting for 40% and 33% of the country's total respectively, according to MoC.
Many of these projects are located in Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Laos, focusing on the construction of infrastructure such as rail and express way, bridges and power stations as part of China's efforts to proceed with its "Belt and Road Initiative", Mysteel understands.
China's closer trade relationship with other Asian countries has and will benefit the country's steel industry too.
"The close trading and economic ties (between China and other Asian countries) in the long term will be having positive impact on China's steel industry in steel exports, in exploring overseas investment opportunities," a Beijing-based Mysteel analyst commented.
Over January-November 2017, China's top two steel export destinations were ASEAN countries, South Korea, which accounted for 46.52% of the total exports with 32.49 million tonnes, according to the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA).
And Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were China's top three steel import sources, with the volume totaling 10.28 million tonnes, or nearly 85% of the total imports, CISA disclosed.
For 2017, China's foreign trade rebounded after the declines in the previous two years, totaling Yuan 27.79 trillion ($4.32 trillion) in 2017, or up 14.2% on year, according to the latest statistics from the General Administrative of Customs (GAC) of China on January 12.
"The recovery in the global economy, a steadily-growing domestic economy and the development of China's 'Belt and Road Initiative' have all contributed to the rebound in China's foreign trade," Huang Songping, the GAC spokesman said at a press conference last Friday.
Written by Olivia Zhang, zhangwd@mysteel.com and Venus Wang, wangyi@mysteel.com
Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com
