China February trade surplus hits record 370.5 bn yuan（$60 billion）

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Beijing (AFP) - China's monthly trade surplus hit 370.5 billion yuan (around $59 billion) in February, the government said Sunday, a new record for the world's second-largest economy.

Exports leaped 48.9 percent year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yuan, Customs said on their website, while imports fell 20.1 percent to 666.1 billion yuan.

For the 1st 2 months of 2015，trade surplus is 737.4 billion yuan，just short of 120 billion US dollars。

China Feb exports growth near five-year high, imports dip

WILLIAM HONG

REUTERS

March 7, 2015

That produced a record trade surplus of $60.6 billion for the month.

That compared with market expectations in a Reuters poll of a rise of 14.2 percent in exports - following a 3.3 percent drop in January - and an 10 percent fall in imports and a trade surplus of $10.8 billion.

Analysts tend to look at the combined trade data for the two months to help smooth out distortions caused by the long Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in mid-February this year but in early February in 2014.

The customs office said local exporters usually make concentrated shipments ahead of the new year, which may have distorted export figures for January and February.

For the first two months of 2015, exports rose 15 percent from a year ago, while imports fell 20.2 percent.

China's exports rose an annual 6.1 percent in the whole of 2014, while imports inched up 0.4 percent.

Imports have been weaker than exports, highlighting the need to spur domestic demand amid fears of deflation, as some short-term investors are pulling out of the country - indicated by sustained capital outflows in recent months.

Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Saturday that he expected China's combined exports and imports to return to growth in March and he was confident of meeting annual trade growth target of 6.1 percent in 2015.

Analysts expect the government to roll out more stimulus steps this year to support the slowing economy, which has been hurt by a property downturn, excess factory capacity and erratic exports.

Despite China's solid trade surplus, a string of weak data has put some pressure on the yuan against the dollar. But analysts say the yuan's modest 1 percent fall versus the dollar so far this year may not help exporters much, given that it has risen against other currencies.

Indeed, a private manufacturing survey showed export orders shrank in February despite a slight pick up in factory activity.

The government has set an economic growth target of around 7 percent for this year, below the 7.5 percent goal that was narrowly missed in 2014, but analysts believe more policy support is needed to arrest the slowdown.

China plans to run its biggest budget deficit in 2015 since the global financial crisis, stepping up spending as Premier Li Keqiang signaled that the lowest rate of growth in a quarter of a century is the "new normal" for the economy.

The central bank has cut interest rates twice since November, on top of a cut in bank reserve requirements in early February, amid concerns about deflationary risks as growth slows.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

- See more at: China Feb exports growth near five-year high, imports dip | The Fiscal Times

 

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China February trade surplus hits record 370.5 bn yuan


1 hour ago


Exports leapt 48.9% year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yuan (AFP Photo/)

China's monthly trade surplus hit 370.5 billion yuan (around $59 billion) in February, the government said Sunday, a new record for the world's second-largest economy.

Exports leapt 48.9 percent year-on-year to 1.04 trillion yuan, Customs said on its website, while imports fell 20.1 percent to 666.1 billion yuan.

The country's trade surplus, long a source of tensions with its trading partners, rose above a previous all-time monthly high of 366.9 billion yuan recorded in January.

It attributed the surge to a rise in Chinese exporters' shipments ahead of the Lunar New Year, which fell on February 19 this year.

"Affected by the Spring Festival factors, export companies in the country again rushed to export ahead of the holiday and only resumed working after it," the statement said.

The lunar new year fell on January 31 in 2014, followed by a week-long national holiday, leading to a low comparison base for this February.

For the first two months of the year, China's trade surplus totalled 737.4 billion yuan, customs said in a statement.

China February trade surplus hits record 370.5 bn yuan - Yahoo News

Chinese exports surge on US demand - FT.com

 

[TaiShang]

China February exports surge, imports drop
Last Updated: 2015-03-08

China's trade rebounded in February from the previous month's surprise contraction but imports were subdued in another sign of continued weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

Exports surged 48.9 percent in February from a year earlier, reversing the 3.2-percent decline in January. However, imports plunged by 20.1 percent, accelerating from the previous month's 19.7 percent fall, according to data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

February exports were 1.04 trillion yuan (169.11 billion U.S. dollars) while imports were 666.1 billion yuan, resulting in a widening trade surplus of 370.5 billion yuan.

The data came after China lowered its annual target of increasing foreign trade to around 6 percent for this year, from the 7.5-percent goal set for 2014.

China's imports and exports denominated in yuan rose by a mere 2.3 percent in 2014, falling short of the target for the third consecutive year.

China confident to deliver 6-pct foreign trade growth goal: minister

Despite challenges from the global economy, China is confident to deliver the target of increasing its trade volume by around 6 percent this year, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said Saturday.

Gao made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual parliamentary session.

China aims to increase its imports and exports by around 6 percent, according to the government work reported Thursday by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People's Congress annual session. The growth rate is lower than the target of around 7.5 percent set last year.

Hit by waning global market demand and declining commodity prices, China's imports and exports rose by 2.3 percent in 2014.

"Domestic and foreign trade environments for China this year are not improved markedly. To fulfill the foreign trade growth target, efforts should be made to implement the existing policies to stabilize foreign trade increase," Gao said.

China should endeavor to promote trade facilitation, strengthen support for businesses in the process of industrial upgrading, climb the global value ladder, focus on innovation-driven competitiveness and encourage the development of new export models like e-commerce, he said.

China sanguine on economy under new normal

Economic growth in China may be slowing but the world's second largest economy is sanguine about growth stability and prospective improvements.

Moving away from the double-digit growth of the most recent decade, the economy has been facing notable downward pressure and has entered a stage known as the new normal, characterized by slow, but higher quality growth.

The economy posted 7.4 percent growth in 2014, its weakest since 1990 amid weaknesses in investment, consumption and overcapacity. The annual growth target was lowered to around 7 percent for 2015.

However, as a developing country, Chinese authorities have faith in the country's growth potentials.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that he was "fully confident" of the economy.

"Our country's development has enormous potential and is hugely resilient, with ample room for growth," Li said during his delivery of a government work report to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), which convened on Thursday.

Braving the new normal

Many entrepreneurs are playing down the challenges of the new normal. Qian Yuebao, chairwoman of Jiangsu Menglan Group Co. Ltd., which provides bedding products, is calm about the economic slowdown.

"Cheap labor and intensive use of resources are not sustainable. We knew that many years ago," said Qian, who is also an NPC deputy.

Refusing to settle on low-end manufacturing, more than 10 years ago the company expanded investment to cover research and introduced advanced equipment to establish itself at home and abroad.

The business woman said that even in 2008 when the global financial crisis wreaked havoc, exports increased more than 20 percent year on year while many of her competitors suffered.

She said that equipment imported from Germany, Spain and Switzerland slashed labor costs by 80 percent.

The company's success epitomizes the success of the innovation and upgrading drive in Jiangsu Province. The provincial GDP expanded 8.7 percent in 2014, out-pacing national GDP growth.

"Jiangsu Province has topped regional innovation rankings for six years in a row due to science and technology advances," Provincial Governor Li Xueyong said.

High-tech firms in the province accounted for almost 40 percent of industrial output last year, following an influx of talent and skilled workers, he said.

Technological upgrade is the way forward for Chinese enterprises trying to find their way amid the new normal. The sooner upgrades happen, the better for business, NPC deputies agreed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for a quicker roll-out of free trade zone strategy to spearhead reforms, opening-up, and the innovation drive, saying that innovation was the most important driver of development.

7 PCT growth target achievable

Premier Li Keqiang stressed that China must keep a steady growth rate to ensure employment and income continue to increase.

Li hailed mass entrepreneurship, and increased public goods and services provision as the two new engines of growth.

"For the former, the main role for the government will be to provide a conducive environment and lower entry barriers. For the latter, the government will not only increase spending but also invite corporate sector participation," said Wang Tao, chief China economist with UBS.

Zhang Xiaoji, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that a 7 percent growth target would be a challenge given government pressure on pollution and emission control.

"However, I think China is likely to realize a growth speed of around 7 percent," said Zhang.

The road and belt initiatives as well as China's free trade arrangements with other countries will also help manufacturing exports, said Zhang, who is also a member of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body.

Justin Yifu Lin, former chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank, said on Friday that China still had great economic development potential in many industries and could beat the growth target of around 7 percent this year.

Lin's optimism is fueled by sectors like equipment manufacturing, e-commerce, Internet finance, new energy and environmental protection, which he says have growth potential.

Mei Xingbao, also a CPPCC member, predicts that a growth rate of 7 percent is possible thanks to the ongoing reform drive which will continue to unleash momentum, encourage private capital investment, and lift consumption.

"The government does not want to undershoot the growth target this year given the government work report explicitly mentioned the importance of a stable growth to support new job creation and ensure stable employment condition," J.P. Morgan China chief economist Zhu Haibin said in a research note.

Zhu said even though the government had reiterated a prudent monetary policy for this year, some flexibility was expected. "The prudent monetary policy is favorable toward easing," he said.

Zhu predicted the central bank will cut reserve requirement ratio (RRR) again in the second quarter.

To offset the slowdown, the central bank has cut the benchmark interest rates twice and dropped the RRR for banks over the past four months.