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Northwest China's Xinjiang Reports Major Drop in Foreign Trade
The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China reportedly had an 8.8 percent drop in foreign trade for the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year, ending a period of rapid growth since 1997.
According to local customs statistics, the remote northwest Chinese region only completed 894 million U.S. dollars worth of foreign trade from January to June, suggesting that the region has entered a foreign trade adjustment period.
The region's stagnated foreign trade was caused by a major setback in exports, said industry experts. In the first six months of the year, Xinjiang only exported 348 million U.S. dollars worth of commodities, down by 40 percent from the same period last year.
In the meantime, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has stepped up control of foreign exchange required for border trade and tourism, which has forced some foreign trade companies to drop businesses related to out-bound tours via Xinjiang.
Industry experts predict that the stagnation in the region's foreign trade will continue in the latter half of the year as a result of many undecided factors.
They suggest that Xinjiang should increase economic and trade cooperation with member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in a wide range of fields and adjust its export structure, improving competitiveness of exported commodities so as to turn geographic advantages into economic edges.
The SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. China borders Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan at Xinjiang.
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