China’s exports have continued to fall for three consecutive months.
According to the General Administration of Customs of China, China’s exports in October amounted to US$274.83 billion, a decrease of 6.4% compared to the same month last year. This decline exceeded the previous month’s drop of 6.2% and the forecasted 3.3%.
After recording a 14.5% decline in July, China’s monthly exports improved consecutively in August (-8.8%) and September (-6.2%). However, the trend of improvement halted in October with a marginal increase of 0.2 percentage points, continuing a six-month streak of negative growth.
China only provides the quantity and amount for monthly import and export items and does not disclose the year-on-year rate of change data.
Imports in October reached US$218.32 billion, up by 3.0%. This significant increase surpassed the previous month’s decrease of 6.2% and the forecasted decline of 4.8%. Thus, for the first time in 12 months since last October’s -0.7%, China’s monthly imports have escaped a negative trend.
On a national and regional cumulative basis, compared to a year ago, exports to South Korea dropped by 8.2% (previous month -7.5%), while imports fell by a more significant margin of 21.7% (-23%). Exports to Japan decreased by 8.6%, and imports by 15.4%. Exports to the United States were down by 15.4%, and imports decreased by 5.8%.
Among the countries and regions recorded in the General Administration of Customs data, South Korea saw the most significant reduction in imports, being the only country marked with a decrease of over 20%. Even as Taiwan, which is experiencing severe tensions with China, was listed with a decrease of 18.2%. Conversely, Russia displayed a robust bilateral relationship with export growth of 52.2% and import growth of 12.4%.
Considering the total trade (exports and imports) up to October, the largest scales were the United States with US$550.8 billion, Japan with US$262.8 billion, and South Korea with US$256.4 billion.
China’s trade surplus in September was reported to be US$56.53 billion, falling significantly short of the previous month’s US$77.71 billion and the predicted US$82 billion.