China’s exports rise, imports drop in April

Beijing: China’s exports in yuan-denominated terms rose 4.1 per cent year on year in April, while imports dipped 5.7 per cent, customs data showed on Sunday. That led to a monthly trade surplus of 298 billion yuan (FJ$96.5bn), up from March’s 194.6 billion yuan (FJ$63.02bn), according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC). The export growth in April was milder than the 18.7 per cent increase in March, while imports fell at a faster pace compared with the 1.7 per cent fall in the previous month. Foreign trade edged down 0.3 per cent year on year to 1.95 trillion yuan (FJ$0.63tn) last month and that for the first four months combined slipped 4.4 per cent to 7.17 trillion yuan (FJ$2.32tn).

In the January-April period, exports dropped 2.1 per cent year on year while imports went down 7.5 per cent, leading to a trade surplus of 1.11 trillion yuan (FJ$0.36tn), widening 16.5 per cent from a year earlier.

The leading index for the country’s exports rose 2.2 points to 33.8 in April, with sub-indices for new export orders and managers’ confidence both up from March, signalling smaller pressure on export growth in the second quarter, the GAC said. Exports to the European Union, China’s largest trade partner, climbed 1.3 per cent year on year in the first four months, the GAC data showed. In the same period, exports to the United States and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, China’s second- and thirdlargest trade partners, both declined 3.5 per cent. Imports of iron ore, crude oil and copper posted strong increase in the four months -- up 6.1 per cent, 11.8 per cent and 23.1 per cent, respectively. But imports of coal, steel and refined oil fell. Xinhua