Infrastructure

Home page

Infrastructure

China sees steep contraction in exports

11 February 2009 09:39 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Chinaâ€™s exports fell by the steepest margin in more than a decade in January, the government said Wednesday, as the global crisis combined with a major holiday to hit overseas shipments.
Last monthâ€™s exports totalled 90.5 billion dollars, down 17.5 percent from the same month a year ago, customs authorities reported.
"Such a steep fall in exports is very rare historically," said Su Chang, a Beijng-based economist with think tank CEB Monitor Group.
The most that exports had ever fallen over the past 10 years was 10.8 percent in January 1999, according to official data available to AFP.
Figures for earlier years were not accessible.
n estimated 20 million workers have lost their jobs in recent months in China, as factories along the eastern seaboard have closed in massive numbers.
The drop in exports followed declines of 2.8 percent in December and 2.2 percent in November compared to the previous year, the first time in seven years that Chinese exports had fallen.
Chinaâ€™s trade surplus remained high last month at 39.1 billion dollars, a rise of 102 percent from the same month in 2008, customs said.
However, this was mainly the result of an even steeper drop in imports, which plunged 43.1 percent year-on-year, according to customs data.
Chinaâ€™s economy expanded by nine percent in 2008, dipping into single-digit territory for the first time in six years.
This year could be even worse, with the World Bank predicting economic growth in China at 7.5 percent, the lowest level in 19 years.
In a bid to reverse this trend, the Chinese government has unveiled a four-trillion-yuan (580-billion-dollar) stimulus package, its largest in history.
Januaryâ€™s trade figures were unlikely to cause any major change in Chinaâ€™s exchange rate either way, analysts argued.