In the past, the GACC carefully implemented the decisions and plans made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. We put enormous energy into shortening the time needed to clear customs. We continued to carry out reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve the regulatory framework and services. We further improved the business environment of various ports. In 2019, the time needed to clear customs for importers and exporters was reduced by 42.3% and 42.4% to 41.4 hours and four hours respectively. The change was remarkable.
Generally speaking, despite growing risks and challenges domestically and abroad, last year, China's foreign trade achieved steady improvement in quantity and quality. Currently, world economic development continues to slow down, while more and more factors have become uncertain. In the future, the GACC will continue to uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We will fully implement the decisions of the 19th CPC National Congress, the second, third and fourth plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, as well as the Central Economic Work Conference. We remain committed to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. We will continue to focus on supply-side structural reform. We will work to ensure stability in employment, financial operations, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and expectations. We will also continue to improve the business environment of various ports. We will work to advance higher-level reform and opening-up. We will promote a steady, quality development of foreign trade. We will better serve the economic and social development of the country, and make a contribution to building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
Thank you.
Shou Xiaoli:
Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before raising questions.
CCTV:
According to the latest data you have just released, the total value of imports and exports in 2019 increased by 3.4% year-over-year. What's the main reason for the growth of China's foreign trade when the economic situation is not favorable? In addition, facing the complicated and severe economic environment at home and abroad, how do you see the trend of China's foreign trade in 2020? Thank you.
Zou Zhiwu:
Thank you for your questions. In 2019, the external environment for China's foreign trade development is indeed complicated and severe. Economic growth globally has continued to slow down, and risks and challenges at home and abroad have risen significantly. However, even in such a situation, China's foreign trade still maintains steady growth, and the quality of that growth is being improved. Now that the domestic figures have been released, we also need to consider international data. Based on our preliminary analysis, China is still expected to maintain its position as the world's biggest trader of goods in 2019. As we said just now, our imports and exports increased by 3.4%, denominated in RMB. If the total value is denominated in U.S. dollars, it falls slightly. However, our exports still showed a positive growth of 0.5%. According to the latest WTO data for the first 10 months of the year, China's export performance is the best among the top 10 traders in the world.
In my opinion, there are three main reasons behind this good performance:
The first is the stability of the Chinese economy. The basic development trend remains unchanged. As is shown in the data of the previous 11 months, value-added industrial output increased by 5.6% year-over-year, total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8% year-over-year, and fixed asset investment increased by 5.2% year-over-year.
GDP continues to rise rapidly, with a higher growth rate than other major economies. The strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the significant advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, solid material and technological foundations established since the reform and opening up, large-scale market and the potential of domestic demand all laid a solid foundation for foreign trade growth. That, I believe, is the main reason.
Second, speaking overall, China's economy is relatively resilient and this is also reflected in the field of foreign trade. We are the world's largest manufacturing country with a complete industrial system. More than 220 kinds of industrial products rank first in the world, and the domestic industry has provided strong support for the development of foreign trade. We have a large number of foreign trade enterprises. Last year, the number of enterprises with actual import and export activities reached 499,000. In particular, private enterprises with more flexible production and management show a stronger sign of vitality in foreign trade development. We also said that one of the characteristics of foreign trade in 2019 is that for the first time, private enterprises have surpassed foreign-funded enterprises to become the largest foreign trade entity, with the proportion of exports exceeding 50%. Our trading partners are all over the world. In 2019, while the trade with our main partners such as the European Union and ASEAN grows, the imports and exports to emerging economic markets -- countries along the "Belt and Road", Africa and Latin America -- increased by 10.8%, 6.8% and 8% respectively.
