China's foreign trade increased by 13.3% year-on-year in the first two months of 2022 to CNY6.2 trillion, according to China Customs. Exports over the period surged by 13.6% year-on-year to CNY3.47 trillion, while imports hit CNY2.73 trillion, growing 12.9%. Li Kuiwen, Director General of the Statistics and Analysis Department, said those figures showed the stable performance of the nation's foreign trade at the beginning of the year, despite increasingly complex external conditions. The achievement was mainly due to the strong resilience of the Chinese economy, which has long-term healthy fundamentals, as well as the effects of policy measures targeted at stabilizing growth, he said, as reported by the China Daily.
In U.S. dollar terms, exports grew by 16.3% and imports by 15.5% year-on-year in the first two months. Data for January and February are combined to smooth out the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls at different times during the two months in different years. China’s total trade surplus stood at USD115.95 billion in January and February combined.
“Export growth slowed in the first two months this year. This is alarming as exports were a main driver for economic growth last year when investment and consumption were both muted. With the export growth slowing down, the pressure on the government rises further to loosen policies to achieve the ambitious growth target of 5.5%,” said Zhiwei Zhang, Chief Economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “I think that slower export growth is well expected by the market, hence the doubt in the market if the economy can turn around in 2022. With the Ukraine crisis imposing downside risk to global demand, China will have to rely more on domestic demand in 2022. Now the pressure is on the fiscal policy to deliver.”
China’s imports from the United States rose by 8.3% from a year earlier to USD31.77 billion in January and February. Exports, meanwhile, increased by 13.8% to USD91.54 billion. In January and February, China’s trade surplus with the U.S. was up by 16.6% to USD59.771 billion from USD51.262 billion over the same period last year. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) continued to be China’s largest trade partner, followed by the European Union and the U.S. China’s exports to the 10 Asean countries rose by 13.3% compared with a year earlier to USD76.32 billion in January and February, while imports rose by 12.8% to USD60.27 billion. Bilateral trade between China and Russia rose 38.5% to USD26.4 billion in January-February from the previous year, the highest growth rate for the first two months of the year since 2010. The two countries have set a goal of boosting trade to USD250 billion per year by 2025.
“Trade volumes remained strong last month, but are likely to soften over the coming quarters as China’s import-intensive construction sector cools further and rising inflation dampens demand for consumer goods in developed markets,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economics. “Soaring commodity prices also mean that China’s import bill will continue to grow even as demand softens, weighing on net trade,” the South China Morning Post added.
