After months of lagging growth, China’s import and export figures grew during the month of July. Economists have expressed concerns that China may fall into a deep economic slowdown due to lacklustre growth in recent months – something that’s been rebuffed by the recent increase in export activity.
The new figures, released by the Chinese government, show that exports increased by 5.1 percent relative to their previous figure twelve months ago, beating out a 3.1 percent growth figure published during June. Imports were up 10.9 percent over the last twelve months, showing a strong recovery from June’s import activity.
Chinese export activity has slowed down significantly over the past few months – an indicator, for many economists, of a looming slowdown for the manufacturing-based nation. The recent surge in import and export activity, however, shows that China is in a far more gradual slowdown than many economists had predicted.
The Chinese government has increased its anti-slowdown efforts, reducing taxes for small businesses and looking into the cancellation of certain customs charges aimed at importers. Beijing is also hopeful that improved consumption in the United States and Europe will result in a greater market for Chinese-built products.
Based on recent Eurozone trade figures, the Chinese government’s optimism could have some strong evidence in its support. Germany, China’s largest European trade partner, exported 8.6 percent more products to the East Asian manufacturing giant in June 2013 than it did in June 2012.
Despite the doom and gloom predictions from many economists, China’s growth is still strong. The manufacturing giant recorded 7.5 percent economic growth in the second quarter, which despite being below the country’s official average, is a figure that beats all of China’s major manufacturing rivals.
