{"id":9383,"date":"2014-05-08T15:30:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T07:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=9383"},"modified":"2014-05-08T15:07:16","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T07:07:16","slug":"chinas-exports-rebound-in-april-to-0-9-per-cent-growth-imports-subdued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/05\/08\/chinas-exports-rebound-in-april-to-0-9-per-cent-growth-imports-subdued\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s exports rebound in April to 0.9 per cent growth; imports subdued"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"china<\/a><\/p>\n

BEIJING\u2014China\u2019s trade rebounded in April from the previous month\u2019s surprise contraction but imports were subdued in another sign of the country\u2019s economic slowdown.<\/p>\n

Customs data Thursday showed exports rose 0.9 per cent, recovering from March\u2019s 6.6 per cent decline. Imports rose 0.8 per cent, up from the previous month\u2019s 11.3 per cent decline.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s leaders are trying to nurture growth based on domestic consumption to replace a worn out model reliant on investment and trade, but the country still needs strong exports to support employment. Their plans call for annual trade growth of 7.5 per cent. Official data show total exports and imports down by 0.5 per cent so far this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect export growth to continue to improve in the coming months amidst gradually improving global demand momentum, but we do not expect a steep recovery,\u201d said RBS economist Louis Kuijs in a report.<\/p>\n

Weak global demand for Chinese goods has forced communist leaders to backtrack temporarily and launch mini-stimulus efforts last year and in March based on state-led investment in construction of railways, low-cost housing and other public works.<\/p>\n

Analysts say this year\u2019s export growth probably is stronger than it looks. They say the figures suffer from comparison with last year, when exporters reported inflated values for goods as a way to evade Chinese currency controls and bring extra money into the country.<\/p>\n

March exports were $188.5 billion while imports were $170.1 billion. The country\u2019s global trade surplus narrowed by 1 per cent from a year earlier to $18.4 billion. China ran a trade deficit in January and February before returning to a surplus of $7.7 billion in March.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States widened by 19.7 per cent from a year earlier to $17.6 billion. The trade gap with the 28-nation European Union rose 3.7 per cent to $8.2 billion.<\/p>\n

Weak imports reflect slowing Chinese economic growth, which declined to 7.4 per cent in the first quarter of year. The ruling Communist Party\u2019s growth target for this year is 7.5 per cent, after last year\u2019s 7.7 per cent expansion tied 2012 for the weakest performance since 1999.<\/p>\n

A survey earlier by HSBC Corp. showed manufacturing contracted in April for a fourth straight month, though the pace of decline was slower, suggesting China\u2019s decline might be bottoming out.<\/p>\n

Government curbs on construction have hurt demand for steel, cement, copper and other raw materials.<\/p>\n

Such weakness could have global repercussions, hurting economies from\u00a0Southeast Asia\u00a0to Australia to South Africa that supply its industries with iron ore, industrial components and other goods.<\/p>\n

Officials already have suggested full-year growth might come in below target. Analysts say the ruling party is willing to accept that so long as the economy is generating enough new jobs to avert political tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSubdued import growth reflects slow growth of demand in China\u2019s economy,\u201d said Kuijs.<\/p>\n

General Administration of Customs of China:\u00a0www.customs.gov.cn<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIJING\u2014China\u2019s trade rebounded in April from the previous month\u2019s surprise contraction but imports were subdued in another sign of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":9384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-joe-mcdonald","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}