Trade Surplus Hits US$27 Billion in October
Record trade figures no longer surprise. They are right up their with the stock market and property prices! The latest figures show China’s trade surplus reached a record US$27 billion in October. Malaysia Star reports:
“China’s trade surplus rose to a record US$27.05bil in October, adding fuel to US complaints yuan is undervalued as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson prepares for an economic summit in Beijing next month.
The gap increased 13.5% from a year earlier, the customs bureau said on its website yesterday.
The yuan’s appreciation versus the dollar accelerated last week to the fastest since China ditched a fixed exchange rate in July 2005.
The 0.6% gain took the appreciation since the end of the dollar peg to 11.6%. Larger increases ease the inflow of cash that threatens to stoke inflation already close to a decade’s high.
… Imports jumped to US$80.7bil, while exports rose 22.3% to US$107.7bil.
Global oil and commodity prices contributed to the import surge, said Wang Qian, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co in Hong Kong.
The weakening dollar another round of interest rate hikes, raising of bank reserve requirements, and new restrictions on export-only manufacturing investment may yet slow things down. But China can expect plenty more political flak from the US and EU in the meantime, as MarketWatch points out where the balance lies:
“Most of China’s overall trade surplus is with the U.S. and the European Union. In October, it ran a surplus of $15.4 billion with the U.S. and $13.91 billion with the EU.”
Where will it all end? Previoulsy reported estimates suggest a total surplus of US$257 billion in 2007, and US$308.4 billion in 2008.
See news sources:
China trade surplus hits record US$27b
Malaysia Star – Malaysia
HONG KONG: China’s trade surplus rose to a record US$27.05bil in October, adding fuel to US complaints yuan is undervalued as Treasury Secretary Henry …
China data show upward pressure on yuan
MarketWatch – USA
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Chinese trade surplus and credit data released Monday showed why the People’s Bank of China’s …
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