In the first half of the year, trade between India and China surged to over $67 billion

14 Jul 2022 , 10:03 AM

According to official trade data issued today, the India-China trade is on track to surpass USD 100 billion for the second straight year after rising to USD 67.08 billion in the first half of this year despite a significant increase in Chinese exports.

As per trade data issued by China’s General Administration of Customs, exports from China to India increased to USD 57.51 billion, up 34.5 percent from the previous year, while exports from India to China decreased to USD 9.57 billion, down 35.3 percent from last year (GAC).

At the halfway point of the year, the trade imbalance was USD 47.94 billion. In a year when relations between the two countries reached a new low owing to the military stalemate in Eastern Ladakh, bilateral commerce between the two countries last year reached a record high of over USD 125 billion, surpassing the USD 100 billion thresholds.

India’s exports to China increased by 34.2% to USD 28.14 billion last year, while China’s exports to India increased by 46.2% to USD 97.52 billion. In 2021, India’s trade deficit increased by USD 69.38 billion.

China asserted in May that it will continue to be India’s largest trading partner in 2021—2022, despite rumours that the US had displaced it to take the top spot. Beijing ascribed the discrepancy to the various ways that Beijing and New Delhi calculate the volume of trade.

When asked about rumors that the US would surpass China to overtake it as India’s top trading partner in 2021—2022, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded, “According to the statistics of Chinese competent authorities, bilateral trade volume between China and India stood at USD 125.66 billion in 2021.”

According to Zhao, “China continues to be India’s top trading partner, and in 2021, the two countries combined commerce crossed $100 billion for the first time.”

He said that the discrepancy in trade data released by China and India was due to the use of various statistical measuring scales. According to GAC statistics, the total value of China’s exports increased 9.4% year over year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about USD 2.94 trillion) in the first half of the year.