China now on top in world trade

China claimed on Saturday that it overtook the United States in 2013 to become the world’s biggest trading nation as domestic demand appeared solid and the country published a trade surplus of US$ 25.6 billion ( NZ$ 30.8b).

The highly symbolic switch of positions is yet another landmark in China’s vigorous economic rise, a rate of progress that has caused some to question the validity of official numbers and others to highlight the risks posed by China’s rising mountain of domestic debt.

China is already the world’s largest consumer of many resources and has been on course to secure the crown of largest overall trader of goods. Its total trade rose by 7.6 per cent to US$ 4.16 trillion and while the US is yet to report its full- year figure, it is unlikely to top its rival after total imports and exports reached US$ 3.5t over the first 11 months of last year.

Analysts took the trade figures as a sign China’s continuing slowdown remained under a measure of control and its economy would not, as some predict, suddenly turn nasty. Imports to China in December rose by 8.3 per cent from the previous year, a potential source of relief to the administration of President Xi Jinping as he girds the country for painful structural reforms.

Commodity imports appeared robust last year, with inbound shipments of coal and iron ore rising by more than 10 per cent.

Annual import growth, however, was slower than the pace set in 2012.

The December pace of export growth fell to 4.3 per cent compared with a year earlier, down sharply from November’s rate of 12.7 per cent.