According to the Chengdu Customs District P.R.CHINA on November 10, the total value of Sichuan's foreign trade in goods in the first 10 months of 2022 reached 826.43 billion yuan, ranking 8th in China. The year-on-year growth registered 9.7%, 0.2 percentage points higher than the national average. Specifically, the exports stood at 503.66 billion yuan, up 13.0% year-on-year, and the imports totaled 322.77 billion yuan, up 4.9% year-on-year. 

"In October, the growth rate of foreign trade in Sichuan exceeded the national average." According to the Statistical Analysis Office of Chengdu Customs District P.R.China, with the gradual stabilization of COVID-19 prevention and control in the province, the various policies to ensure sustainable growth began to bear fruits: foreign trade enterprises resumed work and production in an orderly manner, and the scale and growth rate of imports and exports in the province rebounded significantly. Data show that Sichuan's foreign trade amounted to 91.62 billion yuan in October, exceeding 90 billion yuan for the first time in 2022, up 8.2% year on year, 1.3 percentage points higher than the national growth rate in the same period. 

In terms of trade forms, the proportion of general trade continued to increase. From January to October, Sichuan's general trade rose by 43.3% to 260.09 billion yuan, accounting for 31.5% of the province's total foreign trade volume in the same period, 7.4 percentage points higher over the same period last year. All of these proved that the structure of foreign trade was further upgraded. 

Considering the major trading partners, despite the continuing impact of COVID-19 all over the world, foreign trade enterprises in Sichuan kept trying to secure orders and expand markets. In the first ten months of 2022, Sichuan saw the imports from and exports to countries along the Belt and Road added up to 260.72 billion yuan, up 14.2%, accounting for 31.5% of Sichuan's total value of foreign trade over the same period, a rise of 1.2 percentage points higher than the same period in 2021. Foreign trade with Latin America and Africa grow by 53.1% and 84.7% respectively. 

Among foreign trade entities, private enterprises showed strong growth momentum. Since the beginning of this year, Sichuan released a slew of measures to cut taxes and administrative fees and help enterprises ease and solve problems, which effectively stimulated the vitality of the market. From January to October, Sichuan had 6,885 enterprises with export and import records, an increase of 700 compared with the same period of last year. Among them, private enterprises' foreign trade volume increased by 38.1% to 268.47 billion yuan, accounting for 32.5% of the province's total foreign trade volume in the same period, 6.7 percentage points higher over the same period last year. Contributing 101.3% to the province's foreign trade growth, they were the main driving force in this sector. 

In the first ten months of 2022, Sichuan's exports of mechanical and electrical, labor-intensive, and agricultural products registered 379.45 billion yuan, 42.62 billion yuan, and 7.53 billion yuan, up 2.1%, 51.1%, and 63.0% respectively. During the same period, Sichuan's imports of consumption goods grew by 61.6% to 8.6 billion yuan, and that of agricultural products increased by 41.9% to 7.9 billion yuan. In addition, with the rapid development of Sichuan's lithium battery industry, the imports of lithium amounted to 15.91 billion yuan, an increase of 4.8 times, and the exports of lithium hydroxide reached 5.14 billion yuan, an increase of 7.0 times.