China swung into a huge trade deficit of US$31.48 billion last month, customs data showed yesterday, as the West’s economic troubles impacted the Chinese economy.
China is normally a net exporter of goods — it recorded a surplus of US$27.28 billion in January — but total monthly imports rose 39.6 percent year-on-year to US$145.96 billion, with exports only going up 18.4 percent to US$114.47 billion.
Chinese firms’ efforts to sell to the country’s major trading partners in the West are suffering from the effects of the eurozone debt crisis and weak economic recovery in the US.
The deficit was the largest for at least 12 years, according to Dow Jones Newswires — the extent of its archived data — and far in excess of the median forecast of US$8.5 billion among 15 economists it had surveyed.
Analysts had expected a deficit as imports recovered from temporary disruption after the unusually early Lunar New Year in January, but they had predicted a larger rise in exports and a smaller increase in imports.
China’s trade figures are politically sensitive, with Beijing and Washington embroiled in a long-running dispute over the value of the yuan, which US politicians say is kept artificially low to unfairly help Chinese exporters.
The customs data came after statistics on Friday showed China’s inflation rate slowing sharply last month and factory output growth also slipping, which could potentially give authorities more room to take easing measures.
“Overall, economic conditions are getting weaker at a fast pace,” Nomura economist Zhang Zhi-wei (張志偉) said.
“The slowdown is happening faster than the government expected,” he added.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), speaking at the opening of the annual session of China’s parliament on Monday, forecast economic growth would slow further this year from the blistering pace of previous years.
However, the government has a difficult tightrope to walk between the perils of slowing growth and the risks of inflation, which it fears as a possible driver of social unrest.
Wen warned that consumer prices remained high and the government’s aim was to keep the inflation rate within 4 percent this year, suggesting policymakers will be cautious about relaxing tight credit restrictions.
Beijing has twice lowered banks’ reserve requirement ratio in the past three months, effectively increasing the amount of money they can lend, and analysts say they expect further such moves in the coming months, while ruling out aggressive interest rate cuts for fear of fueling inflation.
The customs data showed that crude oil imports reached a record monthly high of 23.64 million tonnes, equivalent to 5.98 million barrels a day.
Copper and iron ore imports reached their second-highest monthly volumes on record last month, the former almost doubling year-on-year and the latter up 34 percent.
Nonetheless, analysts say that China is still likely to run a trade surplus this year.
The country often records monthly trade deficits early in the year, as manufacturers stock up on imported supplies that will later be processed into goods for export.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique