China’s export slump eased in August despite earlier signs that global demand for Chinese goods remains soft.
Overseas shipments fell 8.8% in dollar terms from a year earlier last month, the customs administration said Thursday, while imports contracted 7.3%, both better than estimates. That left a trade surplus of $68 billion for the month.
A slump in global demand for Chinese goods this year has hit what had been a key source of growth for the world’s second-largest economy during the pandemic. That’s exacerbated the nation’s slowdown this year, and factories have felt the pain: An official gauge of manufacturing activity shrank for a fifth consecutive month in August, albeit at a milder pace.
Overseas orders — measured by a sub-index of that official manufacturing survey — continued to contract in the month, showing little sign of improvement.
Soft domestic goods demand and the broader economic slowdown in China are also impacting global trade. South Korea’s exports to China plunged 20% in August. Japan recorded a contraction in exports to the country in recent months, too.
Chinese government has in recent weeks rolled out a slew of incremental measures to revive business confidence and help the ailing property market, a key source of economic strain.
Authorities have so far avoided any large-scale stimulus amid concerns over the high debt levels in the economy. Some economists project China will miss its growth target of about 5% for this year, and Bloomberg Economics has said the nation’s gross domestic product may never overtake the US in the long term.
