BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports unexpectedly rose in June as overseas economies reopened after lockdowns, while imports grew for the first time this year, reinforcing views the recovery from the pandemic is gaining traction in the world’s second-largest economy.
Exports in June edged up 0.5% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations for a 1.5% drop and compared with 3.3% decline in May.
Imports also rose 2.7%, confounding market expectations for a 10% drop. They had fallen 16.7% the previous month.
“The reopening of major western economies and elevated overseas demand for PPEs (personal protective equipment) and masks supported Chinese exports in June,” said Boyang Xue, a China analyst at Ducker Frontier.
“In addition, production disruptions in China’s trade competitors also helped to shift some orders to Chinese exporters.”
China’s economy is gradually emerging from a sharp 6.8% contraction in the first quarter, but the recovery remains fragile as global demand falters from social curbs and still rising coronavirus cases. Chinese consumption is also subdued amid job losses and concerns about a resurgence in infections.
The country’s export performance however has not been as severely affected by the global slowdown as some analysts had feared, though weak overseas orders may weigh on its manufacturers in the coming quarters.
External risks such as worsening U.S.-China relations, shrinking global demand and disruptions in supply chains are likely to pressure China’s trade outlook in the long term, Institute of Advanced Research at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics said in a report on Saturday.
“In the second half, export and import growth are highly likely to extend declines seen in the first half.”
But Xue looked to positives in Tuesday’s trade figures as a sign the economy had turned a corner.
“The significant improvement in China’s imports is an indication of the country’s accelerating economic recovery, which has been mainly driven by substantial increases in investments in sectors such as real estate and infrastructure.”
Iron ore imports jumped in June, the trade data showed, fuelled by rising shipments from miners and robust demand in China. Crude oil imports also hit a record.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was not thinking about negotiating a “Phase 2” trade deal with China as relations between Washington and Beijing have been “severely damaged” due to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues.
China’s trade surplus with the United States widened to $29.41 billion in June from $27.89 billion in May.
The country’s trade surplus for June stood at $46.42 billion, compared with an expected $58.6 billion surplus forecast in the poll and a surplus of $62.93 billion in May.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley and Stella Qiu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
