China- Arab States Trade Exchange Jumps 821% over Two Decades

Data issued by the General Authority of Customs of China showed that the volume of trade between China and Arab countries has witnessed a strong expansion during the past two decades, since the establishment of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum.

The total volume of merchandise trade between China and Arab countries rose to 2.8 trillion yuan (about $393.75 billion) in 2023, from 303.81 billion yuan in 2004, an increase of 820.9%, according to the authority.

In the first four months of 2024, the volume of China's imports and exports with Arab countries increased by 3.8% year-on-year to reach 946.17 billion yuan, setting a record for the same period, and representing 6.9% of China's total foreign trade value.

The UAE, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are China's six largest trading partners from the Arab countries in terms of the value of foreign trade.

The value of trade between China and the six countries constitutes 84.8% of the total Chinese-Arab trade in the first four months of this year, according to the authority’s data.

China is the largest exporter of cars, textiles and clothing to Arab countries. In the January-April period of this year, China's exports of textiles and clothing to Arab countries increased by 66.3% and 3.2% on an annual basis, respectively.

Arab countries are China's largest exporter of energy products. In the first four months of 2024, China imported 397.29 billion yuan worth of energy products from Arab countries, or 38% of China's total imports of energy products during this period.

In the same period, total trade between Chinese private sector companies and Arab countries reached 497.14 billion yuan, an increase of 16.3% year on year, representing 52.5% of total Chinese-Arab trade during this period, an increase of 5.7%, compared to last year.