BEIJING—Chinese exports were stronger last month but continued
to struggle with weak demand from the U.S. and Europe.
Exports in June were up 2.8% in dollar terms from a year
earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed
Monday. This exceeded the median 0.5% forecast of 14 economists
surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, and marked a reversal from the
2.5% decline seen in May.
Imports in June were down 6.1% from a year earlier, well short
of the expected decline of 16% and of May's 17.6% decline. The
result was a greater-than-expect narrowing of the nation's trade
surplus, to $46.5 billion from $59.49 billion in May. Economists
had forecast $55.3 billion.
"Overall, the economy is still weak," said Huatai Securities
economist Lu Ting. "I don't see a clear rebound."
Exports continue to suffer from sluggish external demand even as
import demand continued to be squeezed by factory overproduction in
China, Huang Songping, a spokesman for the customs agency, said
Monday. Mr. Huang said exports should grow faster in the second
half than in the first half, while imports are projected to decline
less sharply for the remainder of the year. Still, the outlook
remains challenging.
"China will face big pressure on trade in the next two to three
months," he said.
The export figures come as the world's second-largest economy
faces headwinds despite efforts to push it in late June with cuts
in interest rates and required bank reserves.
Domestic demand, manufacturing and real-estate investment remain
weak, profit growth at major industrial companies has slowed and
auto sales are struggling. And while stocks have clawed some of
their losses in recent trading sessions, the benchmark Shanghai
Composite declined by some 30% in recent weeks, jolting confidence.
Shares were up Monday in morning trading.
Last month, the Commerce Ministry said it was making "every
effort" to boost foreign trade by working with other ministries to
reduce charges and fees in order to cut costs for exporters.
"Our foreign-trade situation is quite grim," Ministry of
Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang told a news briefing in mid-June,
according to the official Xinhua News Agency, citing declining
competitiveness among Chinese exporters and exchange-rate shifts
that make Chinese goods more expensive than goods priced in some
other currencies.
Daniel Wang, general manager of a six-year-old pharmaceuticals
trading company based in Shanghai that exports to Africa and the
Middle East, said he's not very optimistic about the future given
increasingly fierce competition among Chinese exporters.
"Everything is getting more expensive here. And some big
state-owned companies continue to exert a monopoly over the drug
industry," he said.
A tax-refund program designed to help exporters is too
complicated, Mr. Wang added. "I don't expect the government to help
out much," he said.
The combination of weak exports and even weaker imports this
year continues widen China's trade surplus. "China is
'unbalancing,' again," said a research note from ING, which
forecasts a trade surplus this year of $700 billion, up from $383
billion last year.
China has set a 6% trade-growth target for 2015, which it looks
likely to miss. Its foreign trade in the first half was off 6.9%
from a year earlier, as exports edged up 0.9% and imports fell
15.5%, official data showed Monday.
Grace Zhu, Rose Yu and Lilian Lin contributed to this
article.
Write to Mark Magnier at mark.magnier@wsj.com
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