Source: Danny Ding, NCDA&CS, 4/16/21

The recovery of the global economy and the Chinese economy is an important reason for the growth of China's foreign trade, and the increase in commodity prices has also boosted the growth of China’s imports. The U.S. is currently China's third largest trading partner. In the first quarter, the import and export volume between China and the U.S. was RMB1.08 trillion yuan (US$165.46 billion), an increase of 61.3% year-on-year.

As of the week ending April 8th, the U.S. shipped 6,879 metric tons of soybeans to China (Mainland China), a sharp decrease from 28,088 metric tons in the previous week. This may be related to the sharp rise in U.S. soybean prices. The average price of Chicago soybean futures in the U.S. in March this year increased by 62.79% year-on-year. Even though, the USDA’s April supply and demand report predicts that China's soybean imports for 2020/21 are still expected to be 100 million metric tons, which is the same as the March forecast.

The scale of e-commerce in China’s rural areas in 2020 reached US$ 429.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.35%. In 2020, there were 2.96 million e-stores located in rural areas across China on Taobao Platform, providing 8.28 million direct employment opportunities, and the cumulative sales of agricultural products have exceeded RMB1 trillion yuan (US$153.2 billion) in the past 8 years.