Shenzhen's foreign trade rebounded quickly in May, a sign of recovery as the local government’s targeted supportive measures to boost foreign trade and stabilize the economy started to pay off, customs data showed yesterday.
The city’s air and sea cargo throughputs increased by 16.4% and 34.8%, respectively, in May year on year, data from Shenzhen Customs showed yesterday.
As of June 8, Shenzhen Port had handled a total of 12.51 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), posting a positive growth year on year. In May alone, its TEU throughput increased by 16.4% year on year, according to the city’s transport authority.
The city’s air cargo throughput for imports and exports between January and May reached 323,000 tons, up by 23.3% year on year, data from Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport showed yesterday. In May alone, the international air cargo throughput increased by 34.8%, according to Shenzhen Customs.
“The positive growth of Shenzhen’s cargo throughputs has brought confidence and encouragement to the industry, and ensured stability of the global supply chain,” Chen Xu, an official from the port administration department of the city’s transport bureau, said at a recent interview.
To stimulate foreign trade, Shenzhen Customs approved tariff reduction and exemption for goods worth 8.77 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) between January and May, quadrupling year on year. Exporters received tax refunds worth 2.86 billion yuan from customs during the period and the customs exempted over 70 million yuan in tax overdue fines.
In addition, Shenzhen Port has so far opened 19 routes connecting with ports in the Pearl River Delta area and other cities in Guangdong Province under the Combined Port Program, which has handled a total of 80,000 TEUs, customs data showed.
From January to April, the city’s total import and export volume slipped by 1.3% year on year to 1.03 trillion yuan, with the decrease reduced by 1.5 percentage points compared to the first quarter, according to the local statistics bureau.
Nationally, the country’s total imports and exports went up 9.6% year on year to 3.45 trillion yuan in May on top of April’s 0.1% expansion, according to the General Administration of Customs last week.