China exports top estimates with surplus at four-year high

Exports rise 12.7% from a year earlier, imports grow 5.3%, the General Administration of Customs says 

The export figures reflect pick-ups in shipments to the US, Europe and South Korea, according to customs data. Photo: Bloomberg

Beijing: China’s exports rose more than estimated in November, pushing the trade surplus to the highest in more than four years in a sign global demand is helping sustain a recovery in the world’s second biggest economy.

Outbound shipments rose 12.7% from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said on Sunday in Beijing. That exceeded estimates from 41 of 42 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The trade surplus of $33.8 billion was the biggest since January 2009, while imports gained 5.3%, compared with a median projection of 7%.

The export figures reflect pick-ups in shipments to the US, Europe and South Korea, according to customs data. Stronger demand from abroad may give Premier Li Keqiang more room to implement reforms to increase the role of markets in the economy while helping meet the 7.2% annual growth pace he says is needed to ensure stable employment.

“There are signs that the global activity and trade cycle is gaining momentum, driven by the recovery in high-income countries,” Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Hong Kong, who previously worked at the World Bank, said in a note. “China’s exporters are benefiting from that.”

“Imports show solid expansion of China’s domestic demand, with prices declining from a year earlier,” Kuijs said.

Analysts’ estimates for export gains ranged from 2.1% to 13.2%, with a median projection of 7%. The median estimate for the trade surplus was $21.2 billion.

NITESH KUMAR 

PGDM 1ST

 SOURCE-- LIVEMINT.COM