(Yicai) March 12 -- China’s foreign trade will likely maintain a stable growth in the first half of the year, according to the director of the country’s General Administration of Customs.

China’s foreign trade started the year on the right foot, but the situation remains complex, Yu Jianhua said yesterday during the so-called ‘ministers passage,’ a passage located in the northern part of the Great Hall of the People where ministers pass by at the end of the Two Sessions, the country’s key policy setting meetings.

In the first two months of the year, China’s foreign trade rose 8.7 percent to CNY6.6 trillion (USD918.8 billion) from a year earlier, reaching a new record high for the period, Yu noted. The country’s trade partners are becoming more diverse and stable, with promising outlooks for both traditional and emerging markets, he added.

Exports alone jumped 10.3 percent, with exports of intermediate goods up 8 percent, Yu pointed out. Exports of cross-border e-commerce and market procurement both logged double-digit growths.

According to the latest data, customs declarations increased over 10 percent in the two months ended Feb. 29 from the same period last year, with the proportion of enterprises planning to expand their foreign trade capabilities up 23 percentage points to the highest in the past year, Yu said.

The GAC will introduce more targeted facilitation measures based on this year’s specific environment, lead and organize special actions for cross-border trade facilitation, continue to expand the scope of pilot programs for cross-border e-commerce returns, promote the development of cross-border e-commerce and border trade, and accelerate the formulation and implementation of the Management Measures on Border Trade, Yu noted.

Meanwhile, the GAC will further enhance the role of the Single Window by integrating various functions, such as foreign trade, logistics, and finance, to build a one-stop comprehensive service platform, Yu added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione