China: decline in exports in April, imports unscrew

2023-05-09 06:53:10

China’s exports fell in April while imports continued to decline, hurt by a fragile recovery in the world’s second-largest economy and sluggish global demand, official data showed on Tuesday.

The threat of recession in the United States and Europe, combined with galloping inflation, is contributing to weakening international demand for Chinese products.

In this context, China’s exports increased last month by 8.5% year on year but at a significantly slower pace than in March (14.8%), according to figures in dollars from China Customs.

The Asian giant’s foreign sales are progressing for the second month in a row following having been constantly in the red since October, when the so-called “zero Covid” policy was heavily penalizing the country’s economy.

China lifted most of its draconian health restrictions in December, paving the way for a recovery in activity which is, however, struggling to materialize in certain sectors.

The country’s imports continued to decline last month (-7.9% year on year), according to Chinese Customs.

“The recovery of the service sector in China is strong (…) but the dynamic is less obvious in the manufacturing sector”, notes economist Zhiwei Zhang, of Pinpoint Asset Management.

The Asian giant’s trade surplus nevertheless reached 90.2 billion dollars (82 billion euros) in April, once morest 88.1 billion dollars a month earlier.

Last month, trade with the United States fell by 11.2% over one year, those with the European Union by 3.5%.

On the other hand, they clearly progressed with Russia (+41.3%) with exports which jumped (+67.2% over one year).



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