China remains Asean’s largest trading partner
China remains Asean’s largest trading partner
The total trade volume of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) with China is projected to increase to US$1 trillion by 2020, the China Daily, one of the country’s major media outlets, reported recently.
Asean and China were pleased with the performance of Asean-China bilateral trade and investment, as despite the uncertainty in the global economy, China maintained its position as Asean’s largest trading partner, the report noted.
China-Asean trade and economic cooperation is strong. China has been the largest trading partner with Asean for seven consecutive years.
Laos’ trade value with China and the other nine Asean countries is also increasing.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported that Laos’ imports from China had a value of about US$2.94 billion in the four years from 2013-2016. The value has increased considerably each year and last year it stood at over US$769.7 million, up from about US$581 million in 2013.
There were about 110 types of import products with the main ones being electronic goods followed by vehicles, steel, paper and spare parts.
Meanwhile Laos’ exports to China were about US$372.5 million in 2013 and soared to over US$1.13 billion last year. The total value was around US$3.25 billion in the four years from 2013-2016 from 112 types of export products, mainly copper, crops, rubber, furniture and ores.
Laos also has made progress in its trade value with the other nine Asean countries.
The ministry reported that the value of Laos’ exports was US$2.65 billion last year, up from about US$2 billion in 2013. The four years from 2013-2016) saw a total value of more than US$9.11 billion.
In these four years, Laos exported the highest value of goods to Thailand worth around US$6.94 billion with 123 types of products, followed by Vietnam with exports worth US$2 billion from 113 types of products, while exports to Cambodia were worth US$61.64 million from 30 types of product.
The main exports are electricity, copper, spare parts, crops, garments, drinks, rubber, livestock, sugar, furniture and ores.
In terms of imports to Laos from the nine Asean countries, the value in 2013 was over US$2.78 billion and jumped to about US$3.13 billion last year. Imports were valued at more than US$12.66 billion from 2013-2016.
The bulk of the imports came from Thailand valued at about US$10.68 billion in 2013-2016 with 111 types of product, followed by Vietnam at over US$1.77 billion from 105 types of product, and Indonesia at over US$88 million with 52 types of product.
The main imported products were electronic goods, fuel, vehicles, drinks, spare parts, steel, cotton, plastics and food.
According to China’s statistics, trade between China and Asean increased 18.5 percent on average in the 25 years from 1991 to 2015.
In 2010, China and Asean established a free trade area (FTA) that allows for “zero tariff” trading. Last year, the two sides signed an agreement to expand trade in the FTA in the hope of reaching US$1 trillion in total bilateral trade by 2020.
Overall, China-Asean economic and trade relations have enjoyed healthy and stable development.
