China’s export and import growth unexpectedly accelerated last month, defying signs the world’s second-largest economy will slow while fueling speculation that fake shipments are resurfacing.
Overseas shipments rose 10.6 percent from a year earlier, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said yesterday in Beijing, a pace that may be distorted by false invoices and holidays and compares with economists’ median projection of for a 0.1 percent gain.
Imports advanced 10 percent, leaving a trade surplus of US$31.9 billion, the widest for January since 2009.
The trade report added to skepticism over the quality of China’s economic data after a crackdown by authorities last year on the use of inflated export invoices to disguise capital inflows. Asian stocks extended gains and the Australian dollar jumped as the report provided some evidence of support for an economy that is projected by analysts to grow at its slowest pace in 24 years this year.
“This should make markets more relaxed about both global demand and demand in China’s own economy,” Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in Hong Kong, said in a note yesterday. “However, we are also left with a nagging feeling that perhaps issues such as over-invoicing have risen sharply in intensity early this year.”
China’s exporters have been challenged by a yuan that has appreciated about 2.8 percent against the US dollar in the past 12 months, the most among 24 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
The comparison with year-earlier figures is distorted because of false invoices to disguise capital flows last year and the different timing of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. A widening discrepancy between Hong Kong and Chinese data for bilateral trade in December spurred speculation that China’s numbers are again exaggerated because of fake exports.
This year’s new year holiday began on Jan. 31, while last year’s started on Feb. 9. Yesterday’s data may reflect shipment arrangements that were advanced by exporters ahead of the festival and this month’s figures “may slow down a bit,” Bank of Communications Co (交通銀行) analyst Liu Xuezhi said in Shanghai.
Economists’ estimates for exports ranged from a decline of 8 percent to a 5.9 percent gain, following December’s 4.3 percent advance. Imports were projected to rise 4 percent from a year earlier, after December’s 8.3 percent increase, and the trade surplus was forecast at US$23.45 billion, based on median projections in Bloomberg surveys.
China’s exports to Hong Kong in December exceeded the city’s reported imports from the mainland by about 70 percent, the biggest difference since April. The Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in December that it would boost scrutiny of trade financing and that banks should prevent companies from getting financing based on fabricated trade.
Shipments from China to Hong Kong decreased 18.3 percent last month from a year earlier to US$26.3 billion, contrasting with a 10.7 gain in exports to the US, and an 18.8 percent jump in goods bound for the EU, according to yesterday’s customs figures.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last