In May, Foreign Trade Data Fell As A Whole, And Textile Exports Went Against The Trend.

According to the latest data released by the General Administration of customs, in May, China's foreign trade import and export volume was 2 trillion and 470 billion yuan, down 4.9% compared to the same period last year. Among them, exports of 1 trillion and 460 billion yuan, an increase of 1.4%, the 8.2% growth rate dropped significantly from last month, dollar denominated in the negative growth of 3.3%, imports fell 12.7%, the trade surplus was 442 billion 750 million yuan.

Foreign trade import and export "in the global demand is significantly shrinking, China's export growth decline is expected." Liu Xuezhi, a senior researcher at Bank of communications Financial Research Center, said, "the global spread of the epidemic has impacted the global economy. The global PMI has been below 40% for 3 consecutive months. The manufacturing PMI of the United States, the euro zone, Russia and Brazil is at a historic low."

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the Shanghai Daily reporter: "exports in May were significantly lower than in April. One of the reasons is that the delivery of hand orders has been completed in the early stage of foreign trade enterprises, and the problem of insufficient new orders has been highlighted."

However, the epidemic has led to the growth of China's textile exports. According to customs data, exports of textiles including masks in May were 406 billion 660 million yuan, up 25.5%.

Wang Jun, chief economist of Zhongyuan bank and member of the academic committee of the China International Economic Exchange Center, told the Shanghai Daily reporter: "compared with the pessimistic expectations of the market for the sharp decline in exports in May, the data also showed some resilience, benefiting from the depreciation of the ASEAN market and exchange rate."

ASEAN market data show that the total value of imports and exports between China and ASEAN countries reached 1 trillion and 700 billion yuan in May, an increase of 4.2%, accounting for 14.7%. In the same period, China's trade volume with the EU and the US decreased by 4.4% and 9.8% respectively.

"ASEAN countries' supply chain is closely integrated with China, and recently signed a joint statement on ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) economic and trade minister to alleviate the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on the economy." Bai Ming said.

In terms of imports, China's imports totaled 5 trillion and 340 billion yuan in May, down 5.2%, while imports in May were 1 trillion and 10 billion yuan, down 12.7%, a slight increase from 10.2% last month.

"Although the import volume of some primary products has increased since the beginning of the year, such as the rapid growth in March and April, the overall import volume in May has decreased. The decline in imports shows that domestic demand is weak, and the poor export expectations also affect import demand. Liu Xuezhi said.

The low price of commodity prices is also an important factor affecting the growth rate of imports. The import prices of imported crude oil, natural gas and steel from January to May were -21.2%, -14.7% and -13.9% respectively.

According to the experts interviewed, with the further landing of the "six stable" and "six guarantees" measures in the country, the economic growth is expected to accelerate gradually after the two quarter, and domestic demand will pick up, and import growth will gradually return to normal level.

But exports may continue to be under pressure. Liu Xuezhi said the impact of weaker global demand on exports will also be apparent. Manufacturing export orders and export container freight index continued to decline, indicating that the export situation in the coming months is not optimistic, and export year-on-year decline may expand.

"The Ministry of commerce is closely monitoring and judging the trend of China's foreign trade next year," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce. At the same time, China's foreign trade development has strong resilience, full potential, large room for maneuver, and long-term development trend has not changed.