Fact of the Week: Foreign-Produced Content of Chinese Exports Fell From 21.9 Percent in 2008 to 17.2 Percent in 2018

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Trade in Value Added (TiVA), TiVA Country Notes (“Trade in Value Added: China”), February 2022.

Commentary: The fall in the value-added of foreign inputs as a share of China’s gross exports reflects an increased reliance on domestic production of intermediate goods and services and a shift toward production for domestic consumption. This decrease was more extreme for the ICT and electronics industry (34.9 percent to 27.1 percent), consistent with the Chinese Communist Party’s push to become a self-sufficient leader in high-tech development and manufacturing. The corresponding figures for OECD and G20 countries remained largely unchanged over the same timeframe.