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BEIJING Chinas trade surplus rose in August to its highest level this year, in the latest sign of how China has emerged largely unscathed from the currency declines and stock market setbacks seen in many emerging markets this summer.
The General Administration of Customs in Beijing said on Sunday that Chinas surplus reached $28.52 billion last month, the highest level since December. As foreign-exchange money poured in from around the world to buy Chinese goods, Chinas central bank allowed the renminbi to inch up 0.1 percent against the dollar last month.
The market turbulence in emerging economies, especially in India and Indonesia, has made Rmb a center of stability, Liu Li-Gang, the chief economist for greater China at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, said in a research note, using a common short form of the Chinese currencys name.
While the renminbis gain last month may have been tiny, it contrasted with declines among most emerging market currencies as investors fretted that U.S. Federal Reserve policy makers will decide at a meeting on Sept. 18 to begin reducing the pace of the American central banks asset purchases. That could cause interest rates in the United States to climb further, making investments there more attractive and reducing the appeal of emerging markets.
The losers among emerging market currencies last month tended to be those of countries struggling to attract enough foreign investment to pay for their trade deficits. The biggest loser last month was the Indian rupee, which fell 8.2 percent.
India has been running an especially large trade deficit lately, totaling $108.73 billion in the first seven months of this year, after legal and environmental disputes disrupted iron ore and coal production while growth in manufacturing exports remains lackluster.
Chinas exports last month were particularly strong to Southeast Asia, South Korea and Taiwan. But Chinas trade surplus also increased because imports were virtually unchanged for the huge category of reprocessing goods everything from high-end plastics to computer chips that are imported by China for use in products that are then exported.
The flattening in imports of reprocessing goods reflects a broad move by many multinational companies to shift entire supply chains to mainland China, instead of merely assembling goods there from components that are manufactured all over the world. That trend toward procuring parts in China persists even as a growing number of export factories in low-wage sectors like garments, toys and furniture are moving to other countries, like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Excluding reprocessing goods, Chinas other imports grew strongly in August as officials in Beijing have authorized state-controlled banks to step up lending. Louis Kuijs, an economist in the Hong Kong office of the Royal Bank of Scotland, said the import data could indicate continued robust growth in demand and economic activity in Chinas own economy.
But he cautioned that detailed data on domestic economic activity in China during August including industrial production, investment in fixed assets, retail sales and other categories is not scheduled for release until Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/business/global/china-exports-up-more-than-expected.html?_r=0
The General Administration of Customs in Beijing said on Sunday that Chinas surplus reached $28.52 billion last month, the highest level since December. As foreign-exchange money poured in from around the world to buy Chinese goods, Chinas central bank allowed the renminbi to inch up 0.1 percent against the dollar last month.
The market turbulence in emerging economies, especially in India and Indonesia, has made Rmb a center of stability, Liu Li-Gang, the chief economist for greater China at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, said in a research note, using a common short form of the Chinese currencys name.
While the renminbis gain last month may have been tiny, it contrasted with declines among most emerging market currencies as investors fretted that U.S. Federal Reserve policy makers will decide at a meeting on Sept. 18 to begin reducing the pace of the American central banks asset purchases. That could cause interest rates in the United States to climb further, making investments there more attractive and reducing the appeal of emerging markets.
The losers among emerging market currencies last month tended to be those of countries struggling to attract enough foreign investment to pay for their trade deficits. The biggest loser last month was the Indian rupee, which fell 8.2 percent.
India has been running an especially large trade deficit lately, totaling $108.73 billion in the first seven months of this year, after legal and environmental disputes disrupted iron ore and coal production while growth in manufacturing exports remains lackluster.
Chinas exports last month were particularly strong to Southeast Asia, South Korea and Taiwan. But Chinas trade surplus also increased because imports were virtually unchanged for the huge category of reprocessing goods everything from high-end plastics to computer chips that are imported by China for use in products that are then exported.
The flattening in imports of reprocessing goods reflects a broad move by many multinational companies to shift entire supply chains to mainland China, instead of merely assembling goods there from components that are manufactured all over the world. That trend toward procuring parts in China persists even as a growing number of export factories in low-wage sectors like garments, toys and furniture are moving to other countries, like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Excluding reprocessing goods, Chinas other imports grew strongly in August as officials in Beijing have authorized state-controlled banks to step up lending. Louis Kuijs, an economist in the Hong Kong office of the Royal Bank of Scotland, said the import data could indicate continued robust growth in demand and economic activity in Chinas own economy.
But he cautioned that detailed data on domestic economic activity in China during August including industrial production, investment in fixed assets, retail sales and other categories is not scheduled for release until Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/business/global/china-exports-up-more-than-expected.html?_r=0
