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Disappointing trade data in May

By Wang Yanlin | June 8, 2015, Monday | Online Edition

CHINA'S exports improved a bit in May while imports slumped further, painting a still disappointing picture for trade in the world's second-largest economy, according to the General Administration of Customs today.

Exports dropped 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 1.17 trillion yuan (US$188.7 billion) last month, recovering some ground from the contraction of 6.2 percent in April.

Imports lost 18.1 percent to 803.3 billion yuan, decelerating further from the fall of 16.1 percent a month earlier.

As imports underperformed, trade surplus widened from April's 210.2 billion yuan to 366.8 billion yuan in May, up 65 percent year on year.

"China's trade data disappointed again," said Zhou Hao, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. "Although exports improved, imports failed market expectation by a large margin, indicating still lukewarm domestic demand."

But Zhou said the sharp decline of imports in the past few months could be largely attributed to the price and exchange effect, and the economy is actually on the path of stabilization.

"In our view, both consumption and investment are bound to pick up in the second and third quarters on faster implementation of fiscal policy and much eased monetary policy," Zhou said. "Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has reduced tariffs on various consumer goods. Thus, we may see a modest pick-up in Chinese imports soon."

According to the Customs, China's trade decreased 7.8 percent to 9.47 trillion yuan in the first five months, far behind the official target of an increase of around 6 percent for this year.

Exports still managed to expand 0.8 percent in the January-May period to 5.4 trillion yuan, while imports lost 17.2 percent to 4.07 trillion yuan, making trade surplus double from a year earlier to 1.33 billion yuan.

China's bilateral trade with the European Union, its biggest trading partner, waned by 7.1 percent during the period, while that with the United States, the second largest, rose 2.8 percent. Trade with Japan plummeted by 11.2 percent.

Shanghai's trade declined 4 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan in the first five months, ranking only after Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces in terms of value.

Economy


 

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