“Moreover, the better export data could be partially explained by a rather large appreciation of Euro against CNY in September from August, compared to a sharp depreciation of Euro against CNY in August-September 2014”, he noted. The 20.4 percent drop in imports is the biggest monthly decline since February. Expansion a year ago slowed to its lowest rate since 1990 and continues to soften despite policy supports including five interest rate cuts since November.
Advertisement
Persistent weakness in demand at home and overseas could spell even more pain for trade-reliant Chinese firms in coming months.
Alongside the release of the data, a spokesman for the country’s customs department warned that the mainland economy faced relatively large downward pressure, Reuters reported. Economists had expected an export decline of 6.3 per cent in dollar terms and an import decline of 15.0 per cent.
In a note, Capital Economics economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said that the “stronger-than-expected export figures hint at warming foreign demand”.
China’s foreign trade dropped 8.8 percent year on year to 2.22 trillion yuan (about 352 billion USA dollars) in September, less severe than the 9.7-percent contraction in August, official data showed on Tuesday.
The figures point to improved-but still declining-global demand for China’s exports, in a continued sign of trouble for the important manufacturing sector.
Advertisement
The trade surplus for the month almost doubled to 376.2 billion yuan, Customs said.
