China’s exports to show ‘remarkable’ rise despite coronavirus and US decoupling threat, customs chief says

Name: China sanctions Rubio, Cruz and other Americans in retaliation for US Hong Kong sanctions
Uploaded: 2020-08-12T11:30:16.000Z
Duration: 1 min 11 s
Description: China sanctions Rubio, Cruz and other Americans in retaliation for US Hong Kong sanctions

General Administration of Customs Minister Ni Yuefeng says China’s global exports rose by 0.1 percentage points in the first four months of 2020

China was the first major economy to see its production largely recover from the coronavirus, with a growth rate of 3.2 per cent in the second quarter

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The World Trade Organisation predicted in June that the value of global trade would shrink by between 13 per cent and 32 per cent this year. Photo: AP

Frank Tang

Published: 7:30pm, 12 Aug 2020Updated: 10:59pm, 12 Aug 2020

China will eventually gain a bigger share of total global exports regardless of the impact of the coronavirus on foreign demand and threats of decoupling from the United States, according to the head of the country’s customs administration.

Having seen its global exports rise by 0.1 percentage points in the first four months of 2020, according to General Administration of Customs Minister Ni Yuefeng, China’s share of global merchandise exports is expected to rise further even though global trade overall is shrinking.

“The ability to survive major shocks and the competitiveness of China’s foreign trade sector keeps rising … China’s market share could rise further as the resumption of [global] business continues. It’s remarkable,” Ni told the official Xinhua News Agency.

China was the world’s first major economy to see its production largely recover from the shock caused by the coronavirus, with a gross domestic product growth rate of 3.2 per cent in the second quarter following the historic 6.8 per cent contraction in the first three months of 2020.

Despite worries its export machine would contract sharply amid a slump in global demand caused by the coronavirus and the trade war with the US, China’s resilient exports recorded a surprise rise of 7.2 per cent in July compared to a year earlier.

This was the third increase in the last four months, helping to narrow the decline in the first seven months of the year to 4.1 per cent after its exports had slumped 17.2 per cent in combined data for January and February.

Liu Xuezhi, a senior researcher with the Bank of Communications, agreed the improvements could be attributed to China’s containment of the coronavirus and its ability to resume its production capabilities.

“[But] there is still uncertainty on whether the pandemic will break out again and how strong external demand will recover. Market expectations remain weak, since export orders grew slowly in the past several months,” said Liu.

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China sanctions Rubio, Cruz and other Americans in retaliation for US Hong Kong sanctions