Another weak trade report from China for October with exports falling 7.3% in US dollar terms and imports down 1.4%.
That was after the 10% slide in September in exports and imports were down 1.9%.
That left the balance of trade at $US49.06 billion, up around $US7 billion from September, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
Commodity imports tumbled, holding out the suggestion that demand might have peaked in the world’s second biggest economy after driving the rebound in many commodities we have seen since May.
Crude oil volume imports fell 12.9% from September, while iron ore volume imports dropped 13.1%. Copper and aluminium imports fell by 14.7% and 10.3% from September.
Overall, China’s exports in the first 10 months of the year fell 7.7% from the same period a year earlier, while imports dropped 7.5%.
Exports to the US fell 5.6% in October after a fall of 8.1% in September, while shipments to Asean countries were down just 0.9% last month after the 10.8% slide in September.
But shipments to the EU improved by only about 1 percentage point, making for contraction of 8.7%, while contraction in exports to South Korea more than tripled to 18.1%.
Trade figures valued in yuan released earlier in the day showed exports down 3.2% and imports growing 3.2%.The currency has been falling.
China imported 80.8 million tonnes of iron ore in October, the lowest since February and down 13% from September’s near record level. But they were still up 7% from the same October on 2015.
The numbers suggest that import volumes probably continued to hold up well on the back of recent signs that domestic demand has strengthened, said Capital Economics China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard.
"The ongoing cyclical rebound in China’s economy should support imports for another quarter or two but is unlikely to last much longer given that the boost to growth from earlier policy easing is set to fade before long."
China’s crude oil imports dropped 12.9% to 28.79 million tonnes from 33.06 million tonnes in September or 6.78 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest volume this year on a daily basis, customs data showed on Tuesday. Imports were still up 9.3% from a year earlier.
Coal imports dropped to 21.58 million tonnes, down from 24.44 million tonnes reported previously.
China’s copper imports fell to 290,000 tonnes in October, the lowest since February 2015, as demand from the world’s top commodities user continued to slow.
The country exported 350,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in October, down from September’s 390,000 tonnes. That is the second month of declines and the lowest since February.
China imported 5.21 million tonnes of soybeans in October, down 5.8% year-on-year. It marked the lowest monthly imports since February, when arrivals dropped to less than 5 million tonnes due to the Lunar New Year holiday that month. Imports for the first 10 months of 2016 stood at 66.4 million tonnes versus 65.2 million tonnes a year ago.
Imports of steel products fell 4.4% to 1.08 million tonnes while exports fell 12.5% to 7.70 million tonnes, figures from the General Administration of Customs showed.
