Steep plunge in China trade figures as imports sink almost 20pc
Exports down 3.3pc while the 19.9pc plunge in imports is the worst slide in five years
Mainland trade activity suffered a worrying slump last month, new data has revealed, with unanticipated falls in exports and imports from a year ago signalling a slide in foreign and domestic demand.
Total trade sank 10.8 per cent in January versus last year, dropping to 2.1 trillion yuan (HK$2.6 trillion). Exports fell 3.3 per cent to 1.23 trillion yuan, but it was a 19.9 per cent plunge in imports - the steepest in five years - that caught economists' attention.
"This is far below market expectations," Steven Zhang, head of macro research at Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities said.
Analysts had expected exports to gain 6.3 per cent and that imports would have had a more modest 3.2 per cent decline. Last month's declines - which left the country with a record US$60 billion trade surplus - follows the mainland's slowest economic growth in 24 years and its first failure to hit the government's GDP growth target since 1998.
The slide in imports is the sharpest since May 2009, when Chinese factories were slashing inventories in response to a worldwide trade slump triggered by the global financial crisis. Exports have not had a negative annual reading since March last year.
China's general exports fell slightly by 0.9 per cent to 686.8 billion yuan in January, while its processing exports fell 11.7 per cent to 404.1 billion yuan, according to China Customs.