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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bart13 who wrote (113253)	9/8/2015 3:44:28 AM
From: elmatador	1 Recommendation Recommended By bart13 Respond to of 218605

China’s trade surplus surges 40% as imports plummet Lucy Hornby in Beijing and Patrick McGee in Hong Kong Trade data from China on Tuesday showed a sharp drop in the value of both imports and exports, amplifying concerns about ripple effects from the country’s economic slowdown into developed economies. Decelerating economic growth not only means China is buying less from overseas but reaping less money from its shipments too, as prices fall and buyers in markets such as Europe and Japan curb purchases. The value of imports fell 14.3 per cent year-on-year in renminbi terms in August, a steeper decline than July’s 8.6 per cent fall, the 10th consecutive fall and the worst showing since May. Exports dropped a more modest 6.1 per cent from a year ago, against an 8.9 per cent drop in July. As a result, the trade surplus jumped nearly 40 per cent month-on-month to Rmb368bn ($57.8bn), just below the Rmb370bn record set in February. “The August data followed the trend set in July,” said Ma Guangyuan, an independent Chinese economist. “Now the global slowdown has very much become a reality.” Anticipation of weak Chinese trade data has weighed on stock markets and created expectations for interest rate cuts, as other manufacturing economies show signs of softening. Last week South Korean trade data showed a drop in exports to China in August compared with the year before amid an even steeper drop in exports to Europe and Japan, feeding worries of slumps in global demand. “Generally the trade data has shown that the world economy is on a downward trend,” said Tu Xinquan, associate director of the China Institute for WTO studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “The US economy grew last year but it wasn’t enough to lift global demand,” he added. The data suggest global demand will slow for the rest of the year. China’s customs administration tracks the imports that are processed in China for re-export, a sector that makes up just under a third of China’s total trade. China has been roiling global markets all summer as its authoritarian leaders try to stop a huge stock bubble from bursting and its slowing economy from stalling While processing exports fell by more than 8 per cent in the first eight months of the year, imports for processing fell by almost 11 per cent, indicating a weakening order book for Chinese exporters. That is consistent with the dented purchasing managers’ index released at the beginning of the month. Worryingly for Chinese policymakers, international demand is not the only concern. China’s apparent demand for key commodities such as crude oil and iron ore fell in August compared with July, while imports of copper — considered a leading indicator for economic growth — were flat. In volume terms, which measures actual demand from China rather than global prices, crude oil imports are up 10 per cent in the year to date while iron ore imports are flat. But August imports were not so rosy, with iron ore import volumes down 14 per cent from July while crude import volumes fell 13 per cent. Additional reporting by Owen Guo