China's exports maintained their steady growth as a result of healthy demand for electronics, health products and a generally positive environment for businesses making step-by-step resumptions of work.
The mainland's dollar-denominated exports exceeded projections to rise 9.5 percent to $235.3 billion in August compared with the previous month, figures from the General Administration of Customs said Monday. Both the value of deliveries to the U.S. and the multilateral trade reserve hit their highest since November 2018.
China's imports were down more than 2 percent to $176.3 billion compared with a 1.3 percent decline in the previous month reckoning. The decline in imports is mostly a result of falling prices with the volume of shipments rising in line with the investment-driven recovery, according to a report from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group
The country's exporters have benefited from the government's early resumption of business from extensive lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus. Trade rivals in other territories are still hounded by antidisease regulations that interfere with trade.
Sluggish export growth is something China needs to monitor, ING economics director for greater China Iris Pang said. The country's shipments to the U.S. remained stable thanks, in part, to frontloading because of mounting doubts over friction between China and the U.S., OCBC Bank chief of research Tommy Xie said.
The gradual resumption of business in other Asia countries and elsewhere has likewise increased demand for goods from China - though it isn't clear how long China can take advantage of this.
China reported a trade surplus of almost $59 billion for August - surpassing the $50.50 billion market observers had initially estimated. The mainland's trade surplus was pegged at $62.33 billion from the previous month. Based on Reuters data, China's export expansion was the most impressive in one-and-a-half years.
Chinese-U.S. exports were up more than 20 percent to nearly $45 billion while imports of U.S. products rose 2 percent to more than $10 billion despite a bump in tariffs enforced by the U.S. administration in its trade dispute with China.
