China trade surplus soars 45.9pc in 2014
- by: FERGUS RYAN
- From: Business Spectator
- January 13, 2015 2:54PM
CHINA’S trade surplus came in ahead of forecasts in December, on the back of better-than-expected exports and imports.
According to official data, China’s trade surplus narrowed to $49.61 billion in December from $54.47bn in November.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the trade balance to come in at a surplus of $US49 billion.
China’s exports rose 9.7 per cent in December from a year earlier. This was up from a 4.7 per cent rise in November and above the median forecast for 6.6 per cent growth by 17 economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
Imports fell 2.4 per cent from a year earlier after a 6.7 per cent fall in November, less than economists’ median forecast for a 7 per cent decline.
For the full year 2014, the country reported a trade surplus of $382.46bn, compared with a surplus of $259.75bn in 2013. Exports rose 6.1 per cent in 2014, down from an increase of 7.9 per cent in 2013. Imports climbed 0.4 per cent, down from growth of 7.3 per cent in 2013.
The Australian dollar lifted on the news, hitting US81.89c at just before 1.30pm (AEDT).
China imported 86.85 million tonnes of iron ore in December and 932.5 million tonnes for the full year, both record-high volumes for the month and year respectively, according to General Administration of Customs data yesterday.
Imports for December rose 18.3 per cent from a year earlier and 29 per cent from November.
The volume for the full year was a 13.8 per cent rise from 2013, customs said.
Meanwhile, China imported 30.37 million tonnes of crude oil in December, equivalent to 7.2 million barrels a day, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Imports were 13.4 per cent higher than the 26.78 million tonnes of crude shipped during the corresponding month last year, and up around 19.5 per cent from 25.41 million tonnes in October, according to Wall Street Journal calculations.
December’s imports surpassed a previous absolute high in January of 28.16 million tonnes and a previous daily high in April of 6.8 million barrels a day.
Refined oil-product imports totalled 3.2 million tonnes, while exports totalled 2.82 million tonnes, the data showed.
China imported 27.22 million tonnes of coal and lignite and exported 430,000 tonnes in October, according to the data.
The figures come as China’s economy rounds out a disappointing 2014, with growth slowing amid manufacturing weakness, falling property prices and high corporate and local government debt burdens, prompting the central bank in November to cut benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded an annual 7.3 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest since the height of the global financial crisis in early 2009 and economists are broadly expecting there to have been further weakness at the end of last year and in the year ahead as authorities face what they themselves openly describe as a “new normal” of slower, and hopefully, more sustainable expansion.
With Dow Jones Newswires and AFP
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