China's goods trade volume up 15.9 pct in Jan-Oct

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China's foreign trade volume rose 15.9 percent year-on-year to 22.52 trillion yuan (3.39 trillion US dollars) in the first ten months of this year, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports increased 11.7 percent to 12.41 trillion yuan, while imports surged 21.5 percent to 10.11 trillion yuan, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said, along with the trade surplus shrank 17.8 percent to 2.3 trillion yuan in the same period.

China’s exports and import growth eased in October

In October, China's foreign trade rose 10.2 percent to 2.24 trillion yuan, with exports up 6.1 percent and imports up 15.9 percent. The trade surplus shrank 20.3 percent to 254.47 billion yuan.

Exports of machinery, electronics and labor-intensive products continued to expand in the first ten months, while the volume of steel exports dropped 30.4 percent year on year to 64.49 million tonnes.

China's foreign trade volume rose 15.9 percent year-on-year to 22.52 trillion yuan (3.39 trillion US dollars) in the first ten months of this year. /VCG Photo

With the exports to the European Union, the United States and Japan up by 16.2 percent, 17.2 percent and 14.2 percent, Chinese trade with traditional markets saw fast growth in the first three quarters.

Both the trade volume and the share of private enterprises increased, as their combined volume rose 17.1 percent and accounted for 38.4 percent of the total, larger than the share for the same period of last year.

Chinese momentum has started to fade

Although China’s economy has recorded better-than-expected growth of nearly 6.9 percent through the first nine months of this year, the momentum has started to fade and analysts say the weaker trade partly reflects moderating external demand.

The data comes amid expectations of a renewed effort by policy makers to reduce debt risks and tighten rules to bring polluting factories to heel. The numbers mirror cooling growth in China’s manufacturing sector, pointing to slackening demand at home and abroad.

China's GDP expanded 6.9 percent in the first three quarters compared to the same period last year, holding steady from a 6.9 percent growth in the first half despite a slightly slower 6.8 percent increase in the third quarter. /VCG Photo

“The big picture is that both outbound and inbound shipments have softened recently, a trend that continued last month,” Capital Economics China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard told Reuters.

“We suspect that this reflects a slight easing of growth in other emerging markets along with weaker domestic demand as a result of slower infrastructure spending.”

China emphasizes the quality GDP of its future growth

China will not set a target to double gross domestic product (GDP) from 2021, as top leaders look to high-quality growth in order to achieve the long term economic growth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the 19th CPC National Congress, adding that China would deepen economic reforms as it transitions from high-speed to high-quality growth.

Under the Chinese quality GPD growth policy, the country puts forward a target of doubling its GDP and per capita income in the decade leading up to 2020.

Under the Chinese quality GPD growth policy, the country puts forward a target of doubling its GDP and per capita income in the decade leading up to 2020. /VCG Photo

"China's main social contradiction has changed and its economic development is moving to a stage of high-quality growth from a high-rate of expansion of the GDP," said Yang Weimin, deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs.

Experts are still expected the country’s economic growth easily meet or beat the government’s full-year target of around 6.5 percent, saying that by prioritizing quality, China is set to deepen structural reforms, promote the job market, raise people's incomes and enhance environmental protection to try to make growth more sustainable.

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