Chongqing's foreign trade maintains growth amid pandemic

In 2020, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality achieved a total import and export value of 651.34 billion yuan ($100.73 billion), a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent. It was the third year that the number maintained double-digit growth.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, Chongqing exported goods worth 418.75 billion yuan last year, increasing 12.8 percent. Meanwhile, the value of imported goods was 232.59 billion yuan, rising 11.9 percent year-on-year.

The structure of Chongqing's foreign trade was more optimized in 2020, according to statistics. The general trade level maintained a steady growth of 14.1 percent year-on-year, while bonded logistics achieved a rapid increase of 25.1 percent year-on-year.

The import and export value of the processing trade totaled 318.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

The export value of laptops produced in Chongqing hit a new high of 172.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent, occupying 41.2 percent of Chongqing's total export value.

The export value of integrated circuits was 23.63 billion yuan, increasing 25.6 percent year-on-year, and the export value of cell phones hit 20.04 billion yuan – 3.4 times the amount in 2019.

Last year, Chongqing had 3,090 private companies that achieved a total import and export value of 249.77 billion yuan, which increased by 30.2 percent year-on-year and became a significant contributor to Chongqing's foreign trade.

Chongqing has also seen an increase in import and export value with major international business partners.

In 2020, Chongqing's import and export value was 112.17 billion yuan with ASEAN, 107.65 billion yuan with the United States and 103.78 billion yuan with the European Union.