China's Exports Fell in November

   By Lily Wang

    The General Administration of Customs of China posted November exports and imports on December 10th, 2008.
   The exports, a key driver of China's economy, were US$114.99 billion this November, down 2.2% year-on-year, for the first monthly decline in seven years.
     'This figure is terrible,' expressed economists, 'October exports also saw a 19.2% growth, but one month later only, exports reversed to a sudden drop.'
      China's producers have been hurt more heavily than observers predicted earlier before. Some insiders commented.
    The imports shrank 17.9% to US$74.9 billion in November. Exports and imports value totally achieved US$189.89 billion, 9% in decline from the previous year.
    The analysts say the shrink indicates domestic companies are wary of importing raw materials in response to the decreased domestic demand and the global demand is weaker and weaker.

   The country's trade surplus soared to US$40.09 billion in November from US$29.3 billion this October because imports fell than exports did.

    The Customs also unveiled the accumulative foreign trade from January to November 2008, being US$2.38 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 20.9%, of which, US$1.32 trillion for exports, up 19.3% and US$1.06 trillion for imports, up 22.8%. The year-to-date trade surplus was US$255.9 billion, an annual increase of 6.9% or US$16.3 billion.

       In reference to trade mode, the general trade contributed US$1 145.7 billion during January to November, up 31.1% over a year earlier, among which US$608.7 billion for exports, up 24.7% year-on-year; US$537 billion for imports, up 39.2%, lifting 12.1 percentage points from the same period of 2007. The trade by mode of processing with supplied materials achieved US$981.28 billion, up 9.8% year-on-year, of which US$626.56 billion for exports, up 11.9% and US$354.72 billion for imports, up 6.2%.

   The top three trade partners of China are also the European Union, the United States, and Japan in the first eleven months, with bilateral trade of US$392.94 billion (up 22%), US$307.82 billion (11.6%) and US$246.23 billion (15.2%) respectively. India ranked the tenth with the bilateral trade of US$48.3 billion, a strong growth of 41.6%.

    The exports of mechanical and electric products achieved US$761.32 billion in the previous eleven months of 2008, up 20%. But exports of traditional products such as garments and accessories increased only 3.1% year-on-year, being US$108.7 billion.

   Imports of primary products were up 57.8% annually, being US$344.08 billion in the past eleven months of 2008. And that of industrial products rose 11% to US$717.13 billion, accounting for 67.6% of total imports. China imported 373 thousand units of automobile, up 35.6%.

    China exported 210 thousand tons of crude oil and 1.27 million tons of oil products this November, and 3.29 million tons of crude oil and 15.02 million tons of oil products in the first eleven months of 2008, down 16.9% and up 5.1% respectively.

   Meanwhile, China imported 13.36 million tons of crude oil and 1.93 million tons of oil products this November, and during January to November imported 164.51 million tons of crude oil and 35.22 million tons of oil products, up 9.5% and 13.1% respectively.

     CPI The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.4% year-on-year in November, down from 4% in October. Economists say the inflation dropped to a 22-month lowest this November, which can give the government more room to further cut interest rate to boost the economy.

     PPI Producer price index (PPI) annual growth went down 2.0% this November, the lowest in 31 months.

    FDI China's monthly FDI was US$5.322 billion this November, down 36.52% year-on-year, with new established foreign-fund firms of 2216, down 38.32% annually. The FDI saw a decline, but China is still attractive for foreign investors, according to analysts.