China’s exports rise in November

Hong Kong: China’s exports rose in November, the first increase since April, while imports fell, according to customs data released Thursday.

Exports rose 0.5 per cent from a year earlier to $291.9 billion, a sign that demand may be picking up after months of decline. But imports fell 0.6 per cent, to $223.5 billion, after they climbed 3 per cent in October. China has been grappling with sluggish foreign trade this year amid slack global demand and a stalled recovery, despite the country’s reopening after its strict COVID-19 controls were lifted late last year.

The trade surplus of $68.4 billion was up 21 per cent compared to October’s $56.5 billion. Some economists said they doubt the rise, fuelled mainly by exports of vehicles and ships, will continue for long. “Looking forward, the resilience of exports is unlikely to last. The recent strength is at least partly fueled by exporters slashing prices to gain market share,” Zichun Huang, a China economist with Capital Economics wrote in a note, describing the reduction of prices as “unsustainable.”

“Without the support of price cuts, exports are unlikely to defy the slowdown in growth among China’s major trading partners, which we expect to continue in the first half of next year,” Huang said. Trade with Japan, Southeast Asian countries, the European Union and the US has declined this year.