Cross-border e-commerce sets record

The value of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.1 trillion yuan ($294 billion) last year, exceeding 2 trillion yuan for the first time, according to a recent report released by the General Administration of Customs.

The value in 2022 increased by 7.1 percent over 2021 and accounted for 4.9 percent of China's total import and export value, according to the country's 2022 annual report, which was released on Saturday during the International Forum on Cross-border E-commerce Development at the 2023 China Langfang International Economic and Trade Fair in Langfang, Hebei province.

The export value of the country's cross-border e-commerce last year reached 1.53 trillion yuan, increasing by 10.1 percent, while the import value was at 527.8 billion yuan, down by 0.8 percent.

Among the export destinations, markets in the United States accounted for 34.3 percent, followed by those in the UK (6.5 percent), Germany (4.6 percent), Malaysia (3.9 percent) and Russia (2.9 percent).

Major export items included clothing, shoes, bags and electronic products.

On the import side, products from Japan accounted for 21.7 percent of China's cross-border e-commerce total import value, followed by the US (17.9 percent), Australia (10.5 percent) and France (7.5 percent).

Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces were more active in the cross-border e-commerce, the report said.