Another 1% plus fall in China’s exports in November but imports surprised with a rise of 0.3% after a sharp fall in October.
The fall in exports and rise in imports was contrary to expectations from analysts.
This marks the first year-on-year growth since April.
Regardless of the trade performance last month – with a dip in the size of trade surplus – the focus will be on whether China and the US reach some sort of deal to prevent Donald Trump imposing a new round of tariffs on $US150 billion of Chinese imports from next Monday, December 15.
Exports fell 1.1% from a year earlier last month, data showed, compared with a 1.0% expansion expected by analysts and a 0.9% drop in October.
Imports unexpectedly rose 0.3% from a year earlier though, compared with a 1.8% decline forecast by the market and October’s 6.4% decline.
China’s trade surplus for November fell to $US38.73 billion, compared with the expected $US46.30 billion estimate and a $US42.81 billion surplus recorded in October. The figure for November 2018 was $US35.5 billion.
Over the first 11 months of the year, China’s Customs Administration estimated that the total value of China’s exports and imports rose 2.4% to $US4.14 trillion.
The impact of the 17-month trade brawl between China and the US showed up in analysis of November’s data by Reuters.
China’s trade surplus with the United States for November fell $US24.60 billion from the previous month’s surplus of $US26.45 billion.
The Customs Administration said China’s total trade with the United States fell 15.2% for the first 11 months of 2019, with exports dropping 12.5% and imports slipping 23.3%.
But exports to the EU rose 4.5% in the year through November, while imports rose 0.3%. Exports to Asean countries rose 11.5% during the month and imports rose 2.8%.
Among the import data, China’s iron ore imports eased to 90.65 million tonnes of iron ore last month, down 2.4% from 92.86 million tonnes in October but up 5.6% from the 86.25 million tonnes in November, 2018.
Data from the General Administration of Customs showed imports eased 0.7% from the first 11 months of 2018 to 970.69 million tonnes in the 11 months to November.
China’s coal imports fell 19% in November from the previous month as tighter import rules at ports curbed shipments towards the year’s end.
Imports totalled 20.78 million tonnes in November. That compares with 25.69 million tonnes in October and 19.15 million tonnes in November last year (when similar curbs were in place).
But China’s imports in the 11 months to November of 299.3 million tonnes has already topped 2018’s 281.2 million tonnes.
Oil imports totalled 45.74 million tonnes in November, up slightly from October’s 45.5 million tonnes.
For the first 11 months of 2019, China brought in a total of 461.88 million tonnes, or 10.09 million bpd, up 10.4% from the same period last year.
Total natural gas imports, including LNG and pipeline were up 3.3% in November to 9.45 million tonnes ahead of the start of the winter heating season in northern China.
For the 11 months from January to November, gas imports were up 7.4% to 87.11 million tonnes from same period of 2018.
