Shanghai’s foreign trade hit a record high of 4.06 trillion yuan (about 640 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, with a robust year-on-year increase of 16.5 percent, data from Shanghai Customs showed Monday, January 24, 2022.

Last year, the metropolis in eastern China saw exports rise 14.6 percent year-on-year to 1.57 trillion yuan, while its imports jumped 17.7 percent to 2.49 trillion yuan, which led to a trade deficit of 917.3 billion yuan, the customs authority disclosed earlier today.

During the same period, the value of imports and exports between Shanghai and the European Union (EU), its largest foreign-trade partner, reached 806.93 billion yuan, up 15.8 percent year-on-year. The number accounted for 19.9 percent of Shanghai’s total value, according to the customs authority.

Meanwhile, the metropolis’ trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United States and Japan totaled 538.08 billion yuan, 508.12 billion yuan and 411.56 billion yuan, accounting for 13.2 percent, 12.5 percent and 10.1 percent of total foreign trade value, respectively.

In 2021, Shanghai saw its exports of mechanical and electrical products hit 1.08 trillion yuan, an increase of 14 percent. The customs authority of the city stated that this accounted for 68.7 percent of the city’s total export value. In particular, the city registered surging exports of automobiles, increasing by 206 percent to 57.01 billion yuan last year.

The customs authority also noted the increasing imports of integrated circuits in the metropolis, exceeding 300 billion yuan and making it the largest category of imported goods.

Privately owned businesses contributed 1.1 trillion yuan of Shanghai’s foreign trade, which increased by 32.5 percent year-on-year. This accounted for 27.1 percent of the total trade and is 3.2 percentage points higher than that of 2020.

China’s foreign trade in 2020

China’s foreign trade grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 32.16 trillion yuan ($5 trillion) in 2020, hitting a record high. Its exports rose 4 percent year-on-year to 17.93 trillion yuan and imports went down 0.7 percent to 14.22 trillion yuan.

In 2020, foreign trade volume of a total of 16 Chinese cities surpassed 500 billion yuan, with 9 cities topping 700 billion yuan and five exceeding 1 trillion yuan.

Unlike 2021, Shanghai’s foreign trade increased 2.3 percent year-on-year in 2020, with the volume of imports and exports totaling 3.48 trillion yuan. The city’s imports rose 3.8 percent to 2.11 trillion yuan, while exports were flat at 1.37 trillion yuan.

In terms of the growth rate in foreign trade, Chengdu, capital of China’s Sichuan province, took the lead in the top 10 cities. In 2020, the city saw a foreign trade volume worth 715.42 billion yuan, registering a 22.4-percent growth year-on-year. Of the total volume, exports reached 410.68 billion yuan, up 23.7 percent, and imports hit around 304.74 billion yuan, up 20.7 percent.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, electronic products experienced rising demand as working from home became a trend.

In 2020, five cities among the top 20 – Dongguan, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiamen and Jinhua – all saw their figures exceed 100 percent. Dongguan, a city dubbed the “world’s factory” in South China’s Guangdong province, took the top spot in the country with a foreign trade dependence rate of 137.9 percent.