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Chinese exports to India go up, Indian exports fall sharply in 2022: China data
While exports from China to India were valued at $57.51 billion, up by 34.5%, Indian exports stood at a much lower $9.57 billion, a sharp dip of 35.3 % compared to the first half of 2021
BEIJING: Trade between India and China stood at $67.08 billion in the first six months of 2022, rising by 16.5% compared to the same period the year before, latest data from China’s General Administration of Custom (GAC) showed on Wednesday.
The latest data expectedly reflected the perennial problem in Sino-India trade: A big trade deficit in favour of China.
While exports from China to India were valued at $57.51 billion, up by 34.5%, Indian exports stood at a much lower $9.57 billion, a sharp dip of 35.3 % compared to the first half of 2021.
In real terms, the trade deficit was $47.94 billion between January and June this year.
While total trade between India and China was $125 billion in 2021, a record high, the deficit between the two countries widened too and stood at $69 billion, according to Chinese data released in January.
India’s predominant exports to China consists of iron ore, cotton, copper, aluminium and diamonds and natural gems.
“Over time, these raw material-based commodities have been overshadowed by Chinese exports of machinery, power-related equipment, telecom equipment, organic chemicals, and fertilisers,” the Indian embassy in Beijing says on its website in a note on the trade deficit between the two countries.
The note adds that “market access impediments” in China against most Indian agricultural products and products from sectors where India is competitive like pharmaceuticals and IT have added to the deficit.
Despite the ongoing border standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, China, in May, said it continues to remain India’s largest trading partner, countering figures published by New Delhi, which said India traded more with the US than with any other country in 2021.
India’s commerce ministry recently published data in May that showed that the US had surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner in 2021-22, reflecting strengthening economic ties between the two democracies.
The Indian data showed that in 2021-22, bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $119.42 billion as against $80.51 billion in 2020-21.
The Chinese foreign ministry pointed out that at $125.66 billion it had done more trade with India during the same period, adding the difference could be because of differing calculating methods.
Overall, China’s foreign trade in goods jumped 9.4 % year-on-year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about $2.94 trillion) during the first half of the year.
“Exports rose 13.2 % year-on-year to 11.14 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.8 % from a year ago to 8.66 trillion yuan,” according to a report by the official news agency, Xinhua, which quoted GAC data.
“The growth of foreign trade picked up significantly in May and June,” Li Kuiwen, GAC spokesperson, said, announcing the data at a press conference on Wednesday.
In the first half of 2022, China’s trade with its top three trading partners - the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the EU and the US - expanded by 10.6 %, 7.5 % and 11.7 %, respectively, compared to a year ago.
Trade between China and Russia in the first six months amounted to $ 80.675 billion, an increase of over 27%.
Last year, trade between the two countries stood at $146.887 billion.
