China: Exports and imports contracted in December – ING
Iris Pang, economist at ING, notes that China’s trade data painted dismal picture of the economy as exports and imports shrank 4.4%YoY and 7.6%YoY in December 2018, respectively, considerably down from ING’s already downbeat forecasts of +2.5%YoY and 0.0%YoY, respectively.
Key Quotes
“Exports fell for commodity energy goods like coal and crude oil. But there were also declines in some electronic related parts and goods and auto-related parts.”
“It was a similar story for imports, but with even greater reductions in electronic-related parts and goods.”
“For the full year, exports and imports rose by 9.9% and 15.8% in 2018 respectively, which resulted in an annual trade surplus of $351.8 billion. This was down from $509.7 billion in 2017, due to faster growth of imports relative to exports. The 31% decline in the trade balance also implies that China's consumption growth was reasonably solid in 2018.”
Author
Sandeep Kanihama
FXStreet Contributor
Sandeep Kanihama is an FX Editor and Analyst with FXstreet having principally focus area on Asia and European markets with commodity, currency and equities coverage. He is stationed in the Indian capital city of Delhi.
