SLUGGISH demand from external markets, currency appreciation, high financing costs and rising labour costs are being blamed for China's disappointing April trade figures, with imports down 16.2 per cent to US$142.2 billion, marking their sixth consecutive monthly decline and extending a 12.7 per cent drop in March.
April's exports unexpectedly fell 6.4 per cent year on year to $176.3 billion, after a 15 per cent drop in March, official data shows.
China has lowered its combined import and export forecast to six per cent growth for this year, although officials expect an improvement in the second half, with a Ministry of Commerce spokesman telling Xinhua that the trade situation would be better than the first half, despite what he called an "increasingly complicated and grave" foreign trade situation.
Total foreign trade decreased by 7.6 per cent in the first four months of 2015, falling to $1.22 trillion. In that period exports rose 1.6 per cent while imports plunged 17.3 per cent mainly due to a drop in the import of raw materials on the back of lower demand for the commodities used in manufacturing.
But while the major market demand was disappointing, exports to emerging markets increased 5.7 per cent in the January-April period compared to the first four months of 2014.
Manufacturing activity has slowed to its lowest level in a year, recording 48.9 in April on the HSBC flash purchasing managers' index.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 7.4 per cent in 2014 from a year earlier, the lowest rate in nearly a quarter of a century. Growth slowed further to seven per cent in the January-March period, the worst quarterly result in six years and down from 7.3 per cent in the final three months of 2014.
WORLD SHIPPING
15 May 2015 - 20:37
China's trade falls 16.2pc in April, with annual growth cut to 6pc
SLUGGISH demand from external markets, currency appreciation, high financing costs and rising labour costs are being blamed for China's disappointing April trade figures, with imports down 16.2 per cent to US$142.2 billion, marking their sixth consecutive monthly decline and extending a 12.7 per cent drop in March.
WORLD SHIPPING
15 May 2015 - 20:37
China's trade falls 16.2pc in April, with annual growth cut to 6pc
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