China’s exports rose 9.9 per cent year-on-year to USD 186.35 billion last month, raising hopes that the slowdown registered during the past few months due to global economic crisis is stabilising.
The export volume hit a record monthly high and the growth was higher than the 2.7 per cent year-on-year increase posted in August, China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) said today.
Imports also ended three months of consecutive drops in September, up 2.4 per cent from a year earlier to USD 158.68 billion. Trade surplus rose slightly to USD 27.67 billion from USD 26.66 billion in August, the GAC said.
The upward trend of the trade figures brought some comfort to the government as the ruling Communist Party is set to hold its key the Congress on November 8 to select new leaders to replace President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who are set to retire by the end of this year.
China regarded as the world’s factory relies on exports and its dependence on domestic consumption is around 36 per cent and the rest on business with the outside world.
The country’s total foreign trade went up 6.3 per cent year-on-year to USD 345.03 billion in September and expanded 6.2 per cent year-on-year to USD 2.84 trillion in the first nine months, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In the January-September period, exports grew 7.4 per cent from a year earlier to USD 1.5 trillion, while imports gained 4.8 per cent to USD 1.35 trillion, bringing the trade surplus to USD 148.31 billion.
During that period, trade with the European Union — China’s largest trade partner — fell 2.7 per cent year-on- year to USD 410.99 billion, according to the new official data. Trade with the US, the country’s second-largest trade partner, increased 9.1 per cent to USD 355.42 billion.
Meanwhile, China’s trade with Japan dipped 1.8 per cent to USD 248.76 billion faster than the 1.4 per cent decline recorded in the first eight months as Beijing and Tokyo are locked in a controversy over the disputed islands.
The two countries had an annual trade turnover of USD 345 billion last year.