China's May Exports Up 27.9%... Imports Surge 51.1% Due to Raw Material Prices (Comprehensive)

Bloomberg "US and Europe Lift Lockdowns, Increasing Demand for Chinese Products"
Forecasts Fall Short... Guangdong COVID-19 Cases and Logistics Crisis Also to Blame
Raw Material Price Surge Drives Highest Import Growth Rate in Over a Decade

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Due to the global economic recovery, China's exports continued to rise sharply in May. Imports reached their highest level in 10 years due to the recent surge in raw material prices.

According to Bloomberg News on the 7th, China's General Administration of Customs announced that China's export value in May (in US dollars) recorded $263.9 billion, a 27.9% increase compared to the same month last year.

Bloomberg interpreted this as confirming the global economic recovery trend, although it fell short of the 32.1% increase forecasted by its own analysts. It explained that demand for Chinese products is increasing as the US and European countries lift COVID-19 lockdown measures.

Jonathan Cavenaugh, Senior Investment Strategist at Infomer Global Markets, said, "Global demand is recovering, and as major advanced countries ease lockdown measures, the recovery trend is expected to continue through the third quarter."

The reason China's May exports fell short of expectations is also analyzed to be due to disruptions in port operations caused by the spread of COVID-19 in Guangdong Province in the south, where many export companies are concentrated.

According to China Securities Journal, more than 20,000 containers are reportedly piled up waiting to be processed at Shenzhen Yantian Port. The partially closed Yantian Port currently accepts only 5,000 containers per day, processing only about one-seventh of its usual volume. Yantian Port stopped accepting export container cargo on the 25th of last month. The western area of Yantian Port is fully closed, and only the eastern area is partially operating.

China's import value in May was $218.4 billion, a sharp increase of 51.1% compared to the same month last year. Reflecting the rise in raw material prices, this marked the highest growth rate since March 2010. The import growth rate also fell short of Bloomberg's forecast of 53.5%.

Until May, iron ore imports increased by 6% in volume but surged by 85.5% in value. Copper imports also increased by 6.4% in volume but rose by 54.5% in value.

China's trade surplus in May recorded $45.5 billion, slightly higher than April's $42.9 billion. Both April and May export values were recorded at $263.9 billion, but the import value slightly decreased from $221.1 billion in April, resulting in a slightly larger surplus. However, this fell short of Bloomberg's forecast of $50.8 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.