The General Administration of Customs announced the cumulative import and export data for August and January-August of this year. The main information related to some furniture exports is as follows (in RMB):

The export value of furniture and its parts in August was 37.57 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.2% from July; the cumulative export value from January to July was 234.39 billion yuan, an increase of 1.6% over the same period in 2019 (year-on-year). This is the first year of 2020 to achieve positive year-on-year growth .

From January to August, the cumulative export value of related products in the four categories of furniture, lamps, lighting devices and parts, ceramic products and textile products was 1223.55 billion yuan, an increase of 17.7% from the cumulative data from January to June.

Except for furniture, textile exports amounted to 737.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.8%. Lamps were 151.02 billion yuan, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year; ceramics were 84.05 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%.

Overall, from January to August this year, my country’s total import and export value of goods trade was 20 trillion yuan, down 0.6% year-on-year, and the rate of decline narrowed by 1.1 percentage points from January to July. Among them, exports were 11 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.8%; imports were 9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%, which was 0.3 percentage points smaller than that from January to July; the trade surplus was 2047.74 billion yuan, an increase of 17.2%.

In August, my country's foreign trade imports and exports were 2.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. Among them, exports were 1.7 trillion yuan, up 11.6% year-on-year; imports were 1.2 trillion yuan, down 0.5% year-on-year; the trade surplus was 416.59 billion yuan, an increase of 74.4%.

Driven by the export support of some anti-epidemic materials and the improvement of overseas economy, China's exports continued to grow more than expected in August, and the year-on-year growth rate rose to the highest this year. China's exports have increased year-on-year for three consecutive months. It is expected that international trade, which has been hit hard by the epidemic, will usher in a broader recovery.