Advertisement
Explainer | China’s exports surge, but sustainability questioned: 5 takeaways from June’s trade data
- China’s export values grew at the fastest pace in 15 months year on year in June, but imports fell due to sluggish domestic demand
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
7
If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. Exports stronger than expected at start of year
China’s exports rose by 8.6 per cent from a year earlier to US$307.85 billion in June, according to customs data released on Friday.
Advertisement
The reading beat the expected rise of 7.44 per cent surveyed by Chinese financial data provider Wind, and was better than the 7.6 per cent increase recorded in May.
“After accounting for changes in export prices and for seasonality, we estimate that export volumes edged up, reaching record highs,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, adding that export values grew at their fastest year-on-year pace in 15 months.
Analysts at Nomura said the rise in export growth in June was partly due to a low base, and was broad-based across most of China’s major trading partners.
In the first half of 2024, China’s exports also rose by 3.6 per cent year on year.
Advertisement
“While the growth level does not appear too high at first glance, this has been stronger than most market participants were expecting at the start of the year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING.
Advertisement