MNI 5 Things: China Imports Surge; Trade Balance Narrows

     BEIJING (MNI) - China's General Administration of Customs released May

trade statistics on Friday. Below are five key points from the release:

     - China May imports increased by 26.0% y/y to $187.95 billion, beating

17.3% expected by an MNI survey and was the second-highest growth in 2018.

Imports had registered an year-over-year increase for 19 months.

     - Exports performed greatly as well - 12.6% growth y/y, and the total value

at $212.87 billion was the most this year.

     - Trade balance narrowed to $24.92 billion in May from $28.78 billion in

the previous month. Surplus in the first five months were $99.67 billion, the

smallest year-to-date surplus in four years.

     - EU, the U.S. and ASEAN are top three countries trading with China. South

Korea replaced Japan to be the No. 4 partner for the first time. China's exports

to the U.S. picked up to 11.6% y/y from 9.7% while imports slowed to 11.4% y/y

from 20.4% in April, which widened the surplus to $24.58 billion.

     - Exports of mechanical products grew 7.9% year-on-year in the first five

months. Meanwhile, labor-intensive products, including clothing, textile,

furniture and shoes fell 4.1% from a year ago.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; tel: +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: flora.guo@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

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