China: Trade data improves markedly as lockdowns ease across the world
In September, exports expanded 9.9% over the same month in the previous year, following August’s 9.5% rise. Moreover, the print was broadly in line with the 10.0% expansion that market analysts had expected.
Meanwhile, imports rebounded markedly and expanded 13.2% in annual terms in September. The print contrasted the 2.1% drop in August and was above the 0.4% increase that market analysts had projected.
As a result of the stronger expansion in imports, the trade surplus fell from USD 39.1 billion in September 2019 to USD 37.0 billion in September 2020 (August2020: USD 58.9 billion surplus). The 12-month moving sum of the trade surplus inched down from USD 455 billion in August to USD 453 billion in September.