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China's imports, exports drop 10.7% in Oct

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-11 13:11

China's imports and exports fell 10.7 percent in October year-on-year, but monthly exports exceeded $100 billion for a fourth straight month this year, the General Administration of Customs announced Wednesday.

Special Coverage: China Biz & Economic Statistics Related readings:  Imports are as crucial as exports to China's economy  Exports might be reaching the saturation point  Decline in exports slow down in Sept China's imports, exports drop 10.1% in September

Imports stood at $86.8 billion for October, a decrease of 6.4 percent compared with the same month last year, while exports dropped 13.8 percent to $110.8 billion.

From January to October, the country's imports and exports totalled $1.76 trillion, down 19.9 percent compared with the same period last year.

Imports for the first 10 months were $798.13 billion, down 19 percent year-on-year; exports declined 20.5 percent to $957.36 billion.

The trade surplus for the first 10 months was down 27.2 percent at $159.23 billion.

The European union was China's biggest trading partner for this period, though bilateral trade declined 18.7 percent to $292.42 billion in value; the United States was second with bilateral trade at $239.36 billion, down 14.9 percent; Japan followed with bilateral trade down 19.3 percent at $182.34 billion.

Exports dropped 13.8 percent in October year-on-year, the smallest decline rate since January. In September, the rate was 15.2 percent.

"This suggests improving demand from overseas," said Zhang Junsheng, an international trade expert with the University of International Business and Economics, while forecasting exports would continue the downward trend until the first quarter next year.

Exports of labor-intensive products for the first 10 months showed a lower rate of decline than the average 20.5 percent drop in exports, the administration said.

In the year to October, the export value of garments dropped 10.9 percent, textiles were down 12.9 percent, and shoes fell 6 percent.

Meanwhile, imports of crude oil rose 9.4 percent, steel was up 10.3 percent, and iron ore increased by 36.8 percent, despite the 19 percent drop in total value of imports.

Zhang said this was because of rising industrial output and urban fixed-asset investment, which required more imports of some bulk stocks.

The National Bureau of Statistics announced Wednesday that industrial output of the world's third largest economy increased 9.4 percent year-on-year over first 10 months, and urban fixed-asset investment rose 33.1 percent to 15.07 trillion yuan ($2.21 trillion).