China-EU trade rises 1.3% in Jan - Nov

The European Union (EU) continued to be China's second-largest trading partner during the first 11 months of the year, with bilateral trade registering a 1.3-percent increase, marginally up 0.1 percentage point from the January-October period latest data from Chinese customs revealed on Tuesday.

The data indicates a steady recovery in bilateral trade, reflecting the resilience and complementarity of both economies despite increasing global uncertainty and trade frictions, analysts said.

In yuan-denominated terms, the bilateral trade between January and November reached 5.09 trillion yuan ($702.06 billion), representing a 1.3-percent year-over-year increase.

The growth continues the positive trend in China-EU bilateral trade seen since the second half of the year.

The GAC data showed that from January to November, China's exports to the EU increased by 3.8 percent to reach 3.34 trillion yuan, while imports from the bloc declined by 3.3 percent year-on-year to 1.75 trillion yuan, the GAC data showed.

Trade with the EU accounted for 12.8 percent of China's total trade volume during the January-November period, slightly down from a reading of 12.9 in the first ten months.

The trade data came amid the EU’s protectionist measures targeting China, including imposing additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) at the end of October.

China and Europe share deeply integrated industrial and supply chains, which offer broad opportunities for both, Ling Ji, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative said on Friday during a meeting in Beijing with a lobby group representing the European companies.

China will unswervingly expand high-level opening-up to the outside world and provide foreign-invested enterprises, including European ones, with a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized first-class business environment, Ling said.

Overall, China’s foreign goods trade rose 4.9 percent year-on-year to hit 39.79 trillion yuan in the first 11 months this year, with exports up 6.7 percent and imports up 2.4 percent year-on-year, according to the official customs data.