Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

China's export value down 17.5% in Jan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-11 12:59

China's export volume went down 17.5 percent year-on-year to $90.45 billion in January, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

Related readings:  Foreign trade slows to $2.56 trillion in '08  Sino-US trade up 10.5% in 2008  China will not launch 'Buy Chinese' plan  China: protectionism is no cure to crisis

The import volume, however, fell by a much larger degree of 43.1 percent to $51.34 billion.

The total foreign trade was $141.8 billion, with the trade surplus up 102 percent over the same month of last year to $39.1 billion.

However, the customs administration said, after deducting the effect of the week-long Spring Festival holiday, the year-on-year export growth was 6.8 percent and the import decline was 26.4 percent on real term. On monthly basis, the export volume was up 10.1 percent from December and the import value down 3.8 percent.

Of the total January external trade, foreign-funded companies accounted for 52.2 percent, or $74.05 billion, down 32.3 percent from a year ago, and State-owned businesses made up 22.3 percent, or $31.65 billion, down 34.8 percent.

The total included $27.93 billion in trade between China and the European Union, down 18.7 percent, $22.25 billion in trade between China and the United States, down 15.2 percent, and $14.5 billion in trade between China and Japan, down 28 percent.

In January China sold abroad $10.51 billion worth of clothing, up 5.7 percent on the same month of last year, and $2.91 billion worth of shoes, up 10.6 percent.

Meanwhile, export value of machines and electronics, which accounted for 54.3 percent of China's total exports, fell 20.9 percent to $49.14 billion, and export volume of new- and high-tech products dropped 28 percent to $21.66 billion.

According to the customs administration, in January China bought from abroad 32.65 million tons of iron ores, down 11.2 percent from a year earlier, 12.82 million tons of crude oil, down 8 percent, 2.39 million tons of refined oil, down 26.2 percent. Arrivals of finished industrial products were $37.49 billion worth, down 39.9 percent.

China faces the worst international economic environment since the Second World War, with lingering high pressure on its exports, said Fan Jianping, head of the economic prediction department under the government think tank State Information Center.

"The large trade surplus stemmed from the big decline in arrivals, which indicated that China's domestic demand and consumption remained lukewarm," Fan noted.

Zhang Xiaoji, a senior economist on foreign trade and international cooperation with the Development Research Center of the State Council, another major government think tank, agreed.

"The larger import decline showed that policies to boost domestic demand and consumption were yet to pay off. China must stick to such policies against the international financial crisis."