March Foreign Trade Figures Show Hope of Gain   

By Lily Wang   

China's foreign trade fell 20.9% year-on-year to US$162.02 billion this March, according to a report of the General Administration of Customs released on April 10th.
   The nation's imports shrank 25.1% year-on-year to US$71.73 billion, the fifth consecutive monthly double-digit decrease. Meanwhile, exports fell 17.1% to US$90.29 billion, a milder fall than 25.7% in the previous month.
   The monthly trade surplus in March was US$18.56 billion, up 41.2% from a year earlier, compared with US$4.8 billion in February and US$39.1 billion this January.
   The decline in the foreign trade, export and import this March decreased 6.3 percentage points, 4 percentage points and 9.1 percentage points respectively compared with that in the first two months of 2009.
   These figures indicate the foreign trade is likely to turn toward gains later this year, according to customs.
   Exports of labor-intensive products, including garments, furniture, bags and shoes, saw increases, with bags leading in this package with 11.7% year-on-year and 90.7% on a monthly basis. However, exports of mechanical and electric products declined 18.8% year-on-year to US$53.76 billion, a monthly drop of 25.6%.
   Exports of resources-intensive products saw deeper decrease. Among them, China exported 280 thousand tons of grain and 420 thousand tons of fertilizers, down sharply 49.8% and 72% respectively from a year ago, and down 7.8% and 59.5% on a monthly basis.
   China exported 470 thousand tons of crude oil and 1.55 million tons of oil products this March, and altogether exported 1.52 million tons of crude oil and 4.17 million tons of oil products in the first quarter of 2009, a year-on-year increase of 134.1% and 15.7% respectively.
   Imports of primary products shrank 21% year-on-year to US$19.37 billion in March, but increased 21% month-on-month. China imported 16.34 million tons of crude oil, down 5.5% year-on-year (up 33% on a monthly basis); 3.2 million tons of oil products, up 2.1% from a year earlier (down 9.6% from a month ago); 5.72 million tons of coal, up 37.4% (monthly up 11.9% ) and 52.08 million tons of iron ore, up 46.2% (monthly up 6.2%).
   Meanwhile, imports of industrial products dropped 19.6% year-on-year to US$52.35 billion in March, and boosted 18.8% month-on-month, of which US$35.78 billion for mechanical and electric products, sharply down 20.5% year-on-year but up 13.5% from the prior month. China imported 230 thousand units of automobiles, down precipitously 42.8% from a year earlier but up monthly 7.8%.
   Furthermore, given by the March figures, China's foreign trade with its top three trading partners, the European Union, the US and Japan, all increased from a month earlier.
    Bilateral trade with the EU gained 21.2% month-on-month to US$26.45 billion (down 19.3% year-on-year), with the US, monthly increased 25.8% to US$22.65 billion (down 12.6% from a year earlier), and with Japan, monthly rose 19.1% to US$17.52 billion (down 20.5% from the prior year).
    The March figures indicate that China's foreign trade will continue to play a significant role in recovering the awful global economy, according to analysts.