Foreign Trade in September Showed Good Performance
Year:2009 ISSUE:31
COLUMN:M & A, BUSINESS & TRADE
Click:361    DateTime:Nov.06,2009
Foreign Trade in September Showed Good Performance   

By Lily Wang   
The General Administration of Customs posted on October 14th that China's exports in September fell 15.2% from a year earlier to US$115.93 billion, while imports dropped only 3.5% year-on-year to US$103.01 billion. These figures showed much better than analysts had anticipated.
   Furthermore, both exports and imports this September saw a double-digit growth on monthly basis, with a monthly rise of 11.8% and 17% respectively.
   The foreign trade shrank 10.1% year-on-year to US$218.94 billion this September, and gained 14.2% over a month ago.
   The three consecutively monthly increases in foreign trade indicated the government's policy to drive domestic demand and stabilize foreign trade taken effective, an analyst expressed.
   Foreign trade is likely to see a positive growth for a certain month in the fourth quarter thanks to the worldwide economic turnaround and the low benchmark set in the fourth quarter 2008.
   The aggregate foreign trade for the first three quarters of 2009 dropped 20.9% to US$1 557.82 billion, among which US$846.65 billion for exports, down 21.3% year-on-year and US$711.17 billion for imports, down 20.4%. The trade surplus amounted to US$135.48 billion in the first nine months, down 26% from a year ago, according to the customs' reports.
   The European Union remained to be China's largest trade partner in the first nine months, with a bilateral trade volume of US$260.05 billion, down 19.4% year-on-year. The US was the second largest trade partner, with a bilateral trade volume of US$211.88 billion, down 15.8%, followed by Japan with US$162.22 billion, down 20%. Obviously, the slower pace of decline bodes well for the global economy.
   Exports of labor-intensive products, like garments and textile, furniture, bags and shoes, represented a narrow drop in the first nine months, with garments falling 10.2% year-on-year, textile by 13.7% and shoes by 5.6%. Exports of mechanical and electric products declined 19.6% from a year earlier to US$206.38 billion.
   Meanwhile, the import amount of general articles showed an increase in the past nine months. China imported 470 million tons of iron ores and 32.36 million tons of soybeans respectively, up 35.7% and 28.5% over a year ago. And the country imported 257 000 units of automobiles, down 16.8%.
   In addition, China exported 390 000 tons of crude oil and 2.08 million tons of oil products respectively in September alone, and imported 17.20 million tons of crude oil and 2.80 million tons of oil products.