1.9 key words to see expectations: Authoritative interpretation of Q1 economic data

-7%, 8% and 15.5%. In the three months of Q1, China's foreign trade boasted the upward curve of import and export growth rate, and also showed the certainty and confidence of maintaining stability and improving quality throughout the year under the complex background.

According to reports, in this "World Smart Energy Week" in Japan, the total exhibition area of Chinese enterprises signed up for the exhibition directly increased from 2,000 square meters last year to 7,000 square meters this year. Local governments have given strong support to Chinese enterprises to grab orders abroad, among which Jiangsu, Shenzhen and other places have taken the lead in subsidizing nearly 70% of booth expenses for enterprises participating in Japan Smart Energy Week.

Chinese exhibitors carefully decorated the booths, carefully arranged exhibits and sales strategies, and Japanese buyers came one after another. Compared with before the pandemic, the audience of this "World Smart Energy Week" increased by 10%.

Recently, an online survey was conducted on 20,000 Canton Fair exhibitors. From the 15,000 responses received, it can be seen that the current decline in external demand and insufficient orders are the main difficulties faced by enterprises. The Barometer Index of International Trade released by the World Trade Organization in early March decreased by 4% compared with the previous period, as only 92.2 (of 100), which also reflected the problem of unsmooth international demand.

Stabilizing stock, creating increment and actively expanding foreign trade market are the key to enterprise practice. According to customs data, in Q1, there were 457,000 foreign trade enterprises with import and export performance in China, up 5.9% year-on-year.

In terms of country, in Q1, China's import and export to ASEAN, the largest trading partner, was RMB1.56 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, which was 11.3% higher than the overall growth rate, accounting for 15.8% of the total import and export value. The import and export to the European Union, the United States, Japan and South Korea was RMB1.34 trillion, RMB1.11 trillion, RMB546.41 billion and RMB528.46 billion respectively, accounting for 35.6% of the total import and export value.

In the same period, China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road Initiative" increased by 16.8%, accounting for 34.6% of the total import and export value, an increase of 3.5%. The import and export to other RCEP member countries increased by 7.3%, and that to emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa increased by 11.7% and 14.1% respectively.

As the barometer and vane of China's foreign trade, Canton Fair is being held in Guangzhou. This Canton Fair has resumed offline exhibitions in an all-round way. According to the intention of buyers in the early stage, hundreds of thousands of buyers from more than 220 countries and regions will participate in the exhibition.

Relevant research shows that the pulling effect of Canton Fair on regional economy has reached 1:13.6, giving full play to the important role of serving international trade, promoting internal and external connectivity and driving economic development.

What role do major foreign trade provinces play in China's import and export map? According to the foreign trade data in 2022, China's total annual import and export value was RMB42.1 trillion yuan. Among them, there are 8 provinces with a total import and export size of over RMB1 trillion, namely Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, Fujian and Sichuan, with a total import and export size exceeding RMB32 trillion, accounting for over 70% of the national total.

Among them, Guangdong, known as the "largest foreign trade province", has a total import and export amount of over RMB8 trillion, accounting for about 1/5 of the national total. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai account for more than or close to 10% of the whole country, and play an important role in the national foreign trade pattern.

2.Grasp synergy, push projects and promote investment - Industrial investment achieved a good start in Q1

Since the beginning of this year, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization has conscientiously implemented the deployment of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Shanghai Municipal Government to stabilize growth and promote investment, further exerted the city linkage investment mechanism, accelerated project recruitment, promoted project construction and speed up investment release. In Q1, Shanghai's industrial investment increased by 14% year-on-year, among which manufacturing investment increased by 18% year-on-year, 11% higher than that of the whole country.

Investment release of major industrial projects. In Q1, the investment of major industrial projects over RMB100 million was RMB24.7 billion, accounting for 81% of industrial investment, of which the investment of projects over RMB1 billion exceeded 50%, which had obvious pulling effect.

Investment in emerging industries grew strongly. In Q1, investment in strategic emerging industries increased by more than 20% year-on-year, and investment in new generation information technology, new energy vehicles, energy conservation and environmental protection increased rapidly year-on-year.

Speeding up the landing of major investment projects. In Q1, 61 RMB1 billion projects with a total investment of RMB137.4 billion were signed and landed. Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference 2023 was successfully held and issued an invitation to "invest in Shanghai" to the whole world, boosting investment confidence at home and abroad, and further pooling global high-quality resources.