China's foreign trade in scales and balances continued to grow steadily in 2013. According to customs statistics, the total import and export of Chinese scales and balances in 2013 was US$1.248 billion, up 8.43% year-on-year, of which US$1.14 billion was exported, up 10.16% year-on-year, and US$999.7 million was imported, down 8.16% year-on-year. Imports and exports offset each other, with a surplus of US$1.049 billion. Scales products were a deficit of US$8.136 million.

I. Export situation

According to the statistics recently released by the General Administration of Customs, the national exports of scales products in 2013 amounted to US$1.14 billion, an increase of 10.16% year-on-year; the national exports of scales products amounted to US$29.89 million, an increase of 3.31% year-on-year.

(1) Weighing products

After a slow growth in 2012 (only 2.74% year-on-year growth over the previous year), national exports of weighing products returned to a year-on-year growth of over 10% in 2013, with exports exceeding US$1 billion for the third consecutive year.

In 2013, China's total exports to Europe amounted to US$408 million, up 6.08% year-on-year and accounting for 35.53% of total exports. China's total exports to North America amounted to US$257 million, up 12.92% year-on-year and accounting for 22.41% of total exports. Exports to Asia totalled US$336 million, up 10.5% year-on-year and accounting for 29.32% of total exports. Exports to Latin America and Oceania were US$56.89 million and US$22.18 million, up 1.93% and 7.03% year-on-year, accounting for 4.95% and 1.93% of total exports respectively. Exports to Africa were good, with US$67.24 million of scales exported, up 38.13% year-on-year and accounting for 5.85% of total exports.

In terms of specific markets, in 2013, the country's scale exports were spread across 200 countries and regions around the world, with the EU, the US and Canada being the two largest markets for China's scale exports, and East Asia becoming the third largest market for China. 2103, exports to the EU were US$340 million, up 10.26% year-on-year; exports to the US and Canada were US$230 million, up The total exports to East Asia and ASEAN were US$100 million and US$94.78 million, a decrease of 0.57% and an increase of 7.66% year-on-year. Exports to the top 3 markets together accounted for 61.34% of the total export value of weights and measures in 2013.

In terms of export destinations, the top four provinces in 2013 were still Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai, with exports from all four provinces exceeding 100 million (USD), accounting for 89.48% of the country's total exports. Among them, Guangdong Province exported US$445 million, an increase of 10.16% year-on-year, accounting for 38.73% of the country's scale exports, always in the lead.

 Household scales remained the number one export product in the country, accounting for 41.12% of the total exports of scales, with a cumulative export of US$472 million and a 1.9% year-on-year price increase. The second largest export product continued to be scales with a maximum weighing capacity of ≤30kg, with a cumulative export of US$238 million, accounting for 20.73% of the country's exports of scales, up 14.09% year-on-year, with an average price increase of 1.28%.

 (2) Balance products

In 2013, the country exported a total of US$29.89 million of balance products, an increase of 3.31% year-on-year and a 47.7% year-on-year increase in price. The total export value of balance products with inductance less than or equal to 0.1mg was USD 8.17 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.28% and a year-on-year price decrease of 11.64%. Sensitivity greater than 0.1mg and less than or equal to 50mg balance, the cumulative export value of 21.72 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 7.28% year-on-year, price growth of 54.2%.

II. Import situation

(1) Weighing Instrument Products

In 2013, China imported scales from 51 countries and regions, with a total import value of USD 99.75 million, a decrease of 8.16% year-on-year. The main source of scale imports was Germany, accounting for 31.45% of the national scale imports, an increase of 14.5% year-on-year; followed by Japan, accounting for 20.47% of the scale imports, a decrease of 19.14% year-on-year; and Switzerland, accounting for 7.5% of the scale imports, an increase of 6.28% year-on-year.

The largest proportion of national scale imports were scale parts (load cells and electronic scale accessories), accounting for 31.11% of total scale imports, with cumulative imports of US$31.03 million, up 9.01% year-on-year, and prices up 24.48% year-on-year; followed by dosing scales, accounting for 27.33% of total scale imports, with cumulative imports of US$27.26 million, down 21.55% year-on-year. 21.55%, with a year-on-year price drop of 30.22%.

(2) Balance products

 In 2013, imports of scales amounted to US$38.03 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.35% and a year-on-year price increase of 22.21%. Scales were still mainly imported from Switzerland (accounting for 46.8%) and Germany (accounting for 27.54%).

Third, the main products import and export price comparison

Weighing and balance products average import prices have been substantially higher than the export price, the gap has been reduced in recent years.