Chinese flag flying near a bridge/AFP
Exports crept up 0.9 percent year-on-year to $188.54 billion, the General Administration of Customs announced, while imports increased 0.8 percent to $170.09 billion, resulting in a surplus of $18.45 billion.
The figures come a month after Customs reported that China’s trade volumes fell dramatically in March, which analysts blamed on the continued impact of fake reporting of exports seen in early 2013.
Concerns over Chinese growth have increased this year after a series of weaker-than-expected statistics, though trade distortions have partially clouded the situation.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.4 percent in the first three months of 2014, weaker than the 7.7 percent in October-December last year and the worst since a similar 7.4 percent expansion in the third quarter of 2012.
In March imports slumped 11.3 percent year-on-year to $162.4 billion while exports fell 6.6 percent to $170.1 billion, for a trade surplus of $7.7 billion.
China had recorded an unexpected trade deficit of almost $23 billion in February, which authorities blamed on the Lunar New Year holiday season. That result was China’s first monthly deficit in 11 months.
“China’s trade data show signs of recovery but continue to understate the true health of the export sector,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics in Singapore, wrote in a reaction to the April figures.
“April’s low export growth was, as in previous months, largely caused by rampant over-invoicing of trade to avoid capital flows last year, which has created an artificially strong base for comparison,” he added.
Slowing property activity suppressing commodity imports meant the outlook for import growth was “relatively weak”, he said.
“China is likely to continue to post large trade surpluses this year.”
Year-on-year price rises for new homes in China slowed in April for a fourth straight month, according to an independent survey released last week.
China’s government has sought for more than three years to contain rising property values and increase the supply of affordable housing to stem discontent among ordinary citizens who cannot afford to buy.
– ‘Mixed signals’ –
