This January China’s foreign trade volume decreased by 9.8% to 1.88 trillion yuan

Almaty. February 15. Silkroadnews - According to information portal China.org, in January China’s foreign trade volume decreased by 9.8% to 1.88 trillion yuan.
As the customs data shows, in January China fell sharply in terms of external trade volumes, volumes of both exports and imports slowed faster than expected due to the global market weakened demand. According to the General Administration of Customs, export in RMB decreased by 6.6% compared with the previous year, to 1.14 trillion yuan ($175 billion), while import decreased by 14.4% to 737.5 billion yuan.
It is noted that the total volume of foreign trade in January fell by 9.8 % compared with the previous year to 1.88 trillion yuan, while the monthly external trade balance surplus increased by 12.2% versus the last year, reaching a record of 406.2 billion yuan in January, compared with 382 billion yuan a month before.
The volume of trade with the three major trading partners of China - the European Union, the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as reported, has decreased by about 10%.
The worst is the situation with export and import in the state companies – they declined by 15.7% and 25.7% respectively compared to the previous year, while the private companies report on 1% growth for both export and import.
The major factor behind such a decline is rather a general deficit of the external demand than changes in currency exchange rates.
“Declining commodity prices have continued to influence the growth of imports. The volume of oil imports fell by 4.6% compared to the previous year, while the average import prices fell by 36.4%,” - the publication says.
The volume of import of coal and steel, the two sectors that are mostly affected by the overproduction crisis, fell by 9.2% and 19.6% respectively, as reported.
In addition, there is also a decrease in the investment demand.
“The trade growth reduction also reflects the investment demand weakening; as recent holiday retail sales have increased the domestic consumption. Declining investments into real estate and measures on the overproduction reduction can become a cause for the decrease in demand,” - says the publication.
It also shows in dollar terms China’s exports fell by 11.2% compared with January of the previous year, worsening the index versus December decrease of 1.4%. Decline in imports also grew by 18.8%.