China's foreign trade achieves 'miracle growth' over past 40 years

(ECNS) - In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China’s foreign trade has increased 198 times to become one of the most important forces driving growth in world trade, said Zou Zhiwu, deputy head of the General Administration of Customs on Thursday. 

Every five minutes some 290 million yuan ($42 million) worth of goods pass through China’s customs while four international cargo ships leave or arrive and nine international flights arrive or depart from the country, all of these being signs of booming foreign trade. 

China’s foreign trade has experienced “miracle growth” over the past 40 years as annual growth averaged 14.5 percent while the proportion in the world trade improved from less than 0.8 percent to over 11 percent today. 

China’s export market share of 1,400 products ranks first in the world, providing nearly 200 million job opportunities directly or indirectly, it was added. 

Quality is also improving as China's foreign trade expands in size, said Zou. Mechanical and electrical products replaced textiles and clothing in 1995 to become the top major category in export commodities, indicating China’s transformation from exporting labor-intensive to capital-intensive products. 

At the same time, private companies have also risen to become major players in China’s foreign trade with an annual growth rate of 12.8 percent from 2008 to 2017.