China’s imports post biggest surge since before coronavirus pandemic, as trade recovery gathers steam

China’s exports grew by 9.9 per cent in September year on year, while imports surged by 13.2 per cent, the first growth of inbound shipments since June

Export growth aided by reopening overseas markets, but with new outbreaks of the coronavirus across Europe and the United States, demand may be fragile

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Last week, the World Trade Organization (WTO) revised upwards its forecast for global trade growth in 2020 to a contraction of 9.2 per cent from a range of between minus 12.9 per cent and minus 32 per cent it projected in April. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:10am, 13 Oct 2020Updated: 11:24pm, 13 Oct 2020

China’s trade economy continued to grow strongly in September, with its customs bureau announcing the strongest import growth since December on Tuesday, sending monthly inbound shipments to an all-time high of US$203 billion.

Imports grew by 13.2 per cent last month from a year earlier, having been forecast to grow by just 0.4 per cent. This was up from a 2.1 per cent contraction in August and marks a surprising turnaround.

Exports grew by 9.9 per cent in September compared with a year earlier, up slightly from 9.5 per cent growth in August. This was the fourth successive expansion but was slightly lower than the median result of a poll of economists undertaken by Bloomberg, which had forecast 10 per cent growth.

China’s overall trade surplus dropped sharply to US$37 billion in September, down from US$58.93 billion in August.

The growth in exports was the strongest performance since March 2019, when exports expanded by 14.2 per cent. It comes amid rising consumption abroad as markets reopened from coronavirus shutdowns, boosting China’s shipments.

Bilateral trade with the United States shot up in September, with China’s American imports rising 24 per cent from a year earlier to US$13.2 billion and exports surging 20.36 per cent to US$43.96 billion. The trade surplus with the US stood at US$30.75 billion, an 18.86 per cent rise from September 2019, but down from August’s US$34.1 billion.

The surge in imports was partly powered by food shipments. China’s grain imports rose 35 per cent from a year earlier, while inbound meat shipments were up 40.5 per cent. Soybean shipments rose 17.6 per cent compared with September 2019 to US$3.7 billion.