Foreign trade

Sichuan's total foreign trade in 2000 was valued at US$2.545 billion, fractionally higher (3.01 per cent) than 1999's figure of US$2.471 billion. Export, however, experienced quite a significant increase of 22.23 per cent from 1999's US$1.141 billion to US$1.394 billion in 2000. Total export value in 2000 was equivalent to 2.87 per cent of the provincial GDP for that year and 0.56 per cent of the total export value of China as a whole.

Export of primary products amounted to US$232 million and export of manufactured products came to US$1162 million, accounting for 16.6 per cent and 83.4 per cent respectively of the province 's total export value (see Table 7.23.2).

Table 7.23.2: Top five export markets, Sichuan Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Export value (US$ million)	% of export total
1995
Hong Kong	822.97	30.10
Japan	426.89	15.61
USA	206.80	7.56
Republic of Korea	182.62	6.68
Germany	129.63	4.74
Total	3,763.91	64.69
2000
Hong Kong	236.75	16.98
Japan	199.80	14.33
USA	167.99	11.98
Thailand	82.94	5.95
Republic of Korea	71.02	5.10
Total	758.5	54.34
Note: 1995 figures are not comparable to 2000 figures because Chongqing city, which was part of Sichuan province in 1995, became a separate administrative region in 1997.

Hong Kong was the biggest export market for the province in 2000, followed by Japan, the United States, Thailand and Korea.

The province reported a decrease in its total import value in 2000: US$1.151 billion, down by 13.5 per cent against US$1.330 billion in 1999. Import of primary products amounted to US$142 million and import of manufactured products came to US$1.009 billion, accounting for 12.3 per cent and 87.7 per cent respectively of the total import value.

Japan was the largest supplier of Sichuan's imports, followed by the United States, Korea, Germany and Taiwan province (see Table 7.23.3).

Table 7.23.3: Top five import markets, Sichuan Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Import value (US$ million)	% of import total
1995
Hong Kong	425.25	26.61
Japan	390.16	24.42
USA	172.03	10.77
Germany	95.11	5.95
UK	59.77	3.74
Total	1,142.32	71.49
2000
Japan	254.04	22.07
USA	211.69	18.39
Republic of Korea	106.35	9.24
Germany	75.94	6.60
Taiwan Province	65.07	5.65
Total	713.09	61.95
Note: 1995 figures are not comparable to 2000 figures because Chongqing city, which was part of Sichuan province in 1995, became a separate administrative region in 1997.