Inner Mongolia's foreign trade in 2013

By Liu Yufen (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-02-25

Statistics released by the customs office at Manzhouli, a port in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, showed the region’s foreign trade hit $12 billion in 2013, an increase of 6.5 percent year-on-year, of which exports totaled $4.1 billion – up 3.1 percent – while imports increased 8.4 percent to $7.9 billion.

Inner Mongolian foreign trade companies engaged in imports or exports with 156 countries and regions, 72 of them with both imports and exports. Two neighbors of Inner Mongolia – Mongolia and Russia – were its largest export destination and importing country respectively. The foreign trade volume of the two countries accounted for 48.3 percent of the total for Inner Mongolia.

With regard to foreign trade from Inner Mongolia to four other countries – Japan, Korea, U.S and Australia – volumes hit $500 million, in addition to Mongolia and Russia, whose figures were $3.16 billion and $2.63 billion respectively.

In 2003, products like steel, clothing and pharmaceuticals were the top three exports from the region with steel exports valued at $846 million, the highest of the three. Inner Mongolia’s top 10 exports had a total volume of $2.62 billion accounting for 39.4 percent of the region’s total export volume.

Inner Mongolia’s foreign trade enterprises had a preference for energy and resource products for their imports. They imported coal valued at $1.31 billion, $852 million of iron ore, and high-tech products worth $787 million in 2013, and made them the top three imports for the region. In addition to seven others, the top 10 imports accounted for 79.9 percent of the region’s total import volume with $6.31 billion.

Not all Inner Mongolia’s foreign trade enterprises were on such a large scale. Most, in contrast, were small-sized private-owned enterprises. According to the statistics, there were 1,271 foreign trade businesses in Inner Mongolia up until the end of 2013. The number of enterprises with foreign trade volumes over $100 million was as low as 21, while their foreign trade volumes accounted for more than half of the region’s total, with a value of $6.22 billion.

The foreign trade volume of privately-owned businesses hit $7.26 billion at the same time – 60.5 percent of the region’s total.

As far as commodities were concerned, electricity and pharmaceuticals contributed a minor increase to the region’s exports; with imports, high-tech products and agricultural products increased vigorously and gave a big boost to import growth.

Overall, Inner Mongolia’s foreign trade enjoyed a steady rise . However, it was dragged down by some restraints. Its modern logistics system and market regulation measures need further optimization. On the other hand, trade mainly grew extensively, without much home-grown intellectual property or own brands. Moreover, the utilization of foreign capital was also not so satisfying, especially in modern services and strategic new industries.

The experts at Manzhouli customs proposed strengthen policy support and asked for more preferential policies to improve the foreign trade business’s soft power. A more optimized industrial chain should be developed by making use of regional industrial advantages, while they also stressed the importance of a modern logistics system as a necessary infrastructure for foreign trade development.