India and China bilateral trade hikes up to 15.3% in Q1 2022

The bilateral trade between India and China increased by 15.3% to over $31 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year (FY) 2022 despite poor ties caused by the military stalemate in eastern Ladakh.

China's exports to India increased to $27.1 billion in the three months between January and March.

In 2021, bilateral trade between India and China reached a new high of nearly $125 billion.

According to trade figures issued by the General Administration of Customs, as reported by the state-run Global Times (GAC), the increasing trend seemed to be continuing, as bilateral trade in the first quarter of 2022 totalled $31.96 billion, up 15.3% compared to last year.

The data revealed that the trade gap increased to $22.23 billion between January and March this year, as China's exports to India hit $27.1 billion, more than five times its imports, while imports were $4.87 billion.

China's exports to India increased by 46.2% to $97.52 billion last year, while India's exports to China increased by 34.2% to $28.14 billion.

Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Centre for China-South Asia Cooperation, told the media that in 2021, India's trade deficit increased by $69.38. The continuing increase in bilateral trade proved the complementarity of the two big emerging economies despite tensions from global geopolitical developments.

In addition to electronic items such as cellphones, Liu said that China imports over 70% of the chemical and other manufactured materials utilised by the Indian pharmaceutical sector.

In the first three months, India's imports from China increased by 28.3% year on year (YoY), while its exports to China decreased by 26.1% YoY. Zongyi said that China bought substantial quantities of iron ore from India in the first quarter of 2021, which accounts for a large part of India's exports to China. Meanwhile, it has cut its imports from India since Q2 2021.

Despite the two-year impasse between India's and China's soldiers in eastern Ladakh, the trade is continuously increasing.

With complicated internal and external hurdles and intermittent lockdowns of numerous cities around the country owing to the spike in Covid-19 cases, China's overseas commerce continued to grow in Q1 2022.

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