China Sees Rapid Growth in Imports As Export Growth Slows
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China’s import numbers grew sharply last month while export growth rates slowed to its lowest in months, according to custom figures released by Chinese authorities on Thursday.
The import growth for China in October was 28.7 percent year on year, well ahead of the 23.0 percent forecast and far in excess of September’s 20.9 percent growth rate.
Related: China Trade, Imports and Exports
China’s import numbers grew sharply last month while export growth rates slowed to its lowest in months, according to custom figures released by Chinese authorities on Thursday.
The import growth for China in October was 28.7 percent year on year, well ahead of the 23.0 percent forecast and far in excess of September’s 20.9 percent growth rate.
Related: China Trade, Imports and Exports
Related: China (People’s Republic of China) Economic Statistics and Indicators
In the meantime, export growth was at its most sluggish in eight months at 15.9 percent, with the continuing woes in the eurozone contributing to weaker demand for Chinese goods overseas.
The data, does however, suggest that domestic demand could very well offset external factors that would affect economic growth in the country.
[quote]”We were expecting quite a deceleration as external demand continues to decline in Western economies,” said Donna Kwok, an economist at HSBC Hong Kong, to Reuters. “But the key thing to look at here is the strength of the domestic demand factors as imports grew nearly 29 percent.”[/quote]The stronger-than-expected import data may also reflect an inventory build-up within the country as Chinese importers took advantage of price swings to stock up on crude oil, copper and other commodities, said some analysts who spoke to the New York Times.
Imports from all three of China’s key trading partners grew in October with the rate of import growth from the United States accelerating by 20.5 percent year-on-year, compared to the 12.9 percent experienced in September.
Imports from resource-rich Australia also grew at 36.7 percent versus September’s 33.4 percent, while European Union imports rose 28.2 percent versus 25.7 percent previously.
While most experts believe that the drop in export growth rates for China demonstrates the damaging effect of the eurozone crisis on the rest of the world, the import figures reaffirm the fact that China remains the largest engine of growth for the global economy.
Related: Can China Alone Save the Eurozone?
“The external weakness will influence growth in China but it is not a great slowdown,” said Yang Lingxiu, a Barclays Capital economist. “It is a moderation in momentum.”
“Domestic demand is still resilient and may suggest that the economy would only slow down in a gradual way, but (there is) no risk of a sharp slowdown,” added Wang Hu, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.
