(Yicai Global) March 8 -- The value of China's imports and exports fell 8.3 percent in the first two months of 2023 from a year earlier, according to the latest data.

Some USD895.7 billion worth of goods were imported into or exported out of China in the two months ended Feb. 28, the General Administration of Customs said yesterday.

Imports slumped 10.2 percent to USD389.4 billion, and exports dropped 6.8 percent to USD506.3 billion, while the trade surplus expanded 6.8 percent to USD116.9 billion.

The value of China's imports and exports will still grow this year because of the weakening of various adverse factors, said Hong Yong, deputy researcher at the e-commerce research institute of the Ministry of Commerce's research academy.

Exports fell as expected in the period because of the high base of last year and weaker US macroeconomy demand, said Zheng Houcheng, head of Yingda Securities' research institute. China's exports will still face pressures over volume and price this month, and the decline will continue, he added. 

Exports to Europe and the US fell 10 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, in January and February from a year earlier. But data from Alibaba's international website showed that overseas orders recorded sustained growth since last month and began to rebound in March, foreign trade's traditional high season.

Foreign trade between China and its largest trading partner, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, rose 1.3 percent to USD138.1 billion in the first two months of 2023 from the same period last year.

In the past several years of trade war, people noticed the US increased imports from Vietnam and reduced those from China, Shi Zhan, director of China Foreign Affairs University's World Politics Center, said regarding supply chains transferring from China to Southeast Asia.

But what people should notice is the increased exports from China to Vietnam, and the fact that the latter's manufacturing industry is just a spillover of China's supply chain, Shi noted.

Because of the high inflation in Europe and the US, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade frictions, and other factors, many foreign trade companies are recently shifting the focus of their foreign market expansion campaigns from Europe and the US to more diversified markets, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, according to some analysts.

Some Chinese manufacturers have also been furthering their global expansions, enhancing China's cooperation with Southeast Asia and the Middle East, thus increasing the exports to ASEAN members and countries on the Belt and Road initiative, the analysts pointed out.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione