China’s Trade Surplus Surges to $31.5 Billion
China’s Trade Surplus Surges to $31.5 Billion, Customs Says
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The world’s biggest exporting nation faces the threat of weakening demand as developed nations from Europe to the U.S. and Japan struggle to rein in their debt burdens.
The world’s biggest exporting nation faces the threat of weakening demand as developed nations from Europe to the U.S. and Japan struggle to rein in their debt burdens. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Frank Lavin, chairman of public affairs at Edelman Asia Pacific and a former undersecretary of international trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce, discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and China's trade surplus. Lavin speaks from Hong Kong with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "First Look." (Source: Bloomberg)
China July Exports Rise 20.4%, Trade Surplus $31.48 Billion
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
A dock worker at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China.
A dock worker at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
China’s trade surplus surged to $31.5 billion in July, the highest level in more than two years, as exports rose to a record.
Outbound shipments climbed 20.4 percent from a year earlier, compared with the 17 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 25 economists. Imports climbed 22.9 percent, the customs bureau said on its website today. The surplus exceeded a median forecast of $27.4 billion.
The world’s biggest exporting nation faces the threat of weakening demand as developed nations from Europe to the U.S. and Japan struggle to rein in their debt burdens. The U.S. Federal Reserve countered a global rout in stocks by pledging yesterday to keep interest rates at a record low through mid- 2013 and to use additional measures “as appropriate.”
“The turmoil in global financial markets hasn’t hit China’s trade sector yet,” said Yao Wei, a Hong Kong-based economist with Societe Generale SA. “The real challenge is ahead.”
Twelve-month non-deliverable yuan forwards strengthened 0.5 percent to 6.3684 per dollar in Hong Kong as of 11:38 a.m. local time, set for the biggest gain since November on the trade figures and the Fed’s statement. The yuan touched a 17-year high of 6.4120 today.
Exports were $175.1 billion and imports were $143.6 billion. Import growth compared with a median 22 percent estimate and a 19.3 percent increase the previous month. The export gain compared with a 17.9 percent gain in June.
Export Markets
China’s trade surplus, a cause of friction with trading partners including the U.S., was $22.3 billion in June and $28.7 billion in July 2010.
“Weaker growth in the U.S. and Europe means weaker growth in exports in China,” Wang Tao, a Hong Kong-based economist for UBS AG said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday.
Container-shipping rates have fallen on Asia-U.S. and Asia- Europe routes as the global fleet expands and demand cools. China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s largest operator of dry- bulk ships, said yesterday that it probably made a loss in the first half, partly because of rising fuel costs.
Singapore cut today its forecast for export growth this year, saying that risks have increased amid “sluggish” growth in developed economies. Market sentiment remains fragile in the European Union amid concern that a debt crisis will spread from peripheral economies, the trade ministry said.
“Concerns of a double-dip recession in the U.S. have emerged, as upcoming plans for fiscal consolidation and weak labor and housing markets dampen consumer and business sentiments,” it said.
--Victoria Ruan, Zheng Lifei. Editors: Nerys Avery, Paul Panckhurst
To contact Bloomberg News staff on this story: Victoria Ruan in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7570 vruan1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panckhurst in Hong Kong at ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net
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