****MNI: 5 Things We Learned From China January Trade Data

By Flora Guo

     **BEIJING (MNI) - The following are the key points from the January trade

report, released by the General Administration of Customs of China Thursday:

     - January imports surged 36.9% year-on-year to $180.18 bln in U.S. dollar

terms, well above the market consensus of 8.5% growth. It marked the highest

monthly increase since February 2017, as well as the 15th monthly increase in a

row. In yuan terms, imports rose 30.2% year-on-year to CNY1.32 trillion. The

sharp 3.5% Yuan appreciation in the last month has contributed to the jump.

     - January exports rose 11.1% year-on-year vs 10.9% last month to $200.52

bln in U.S. dollar terms, higher than MNI's survey median forecast for a 9.8%

y/y gain. It is the highest January increase in five years. Exports rose 6.0%

year-on-year in yuan terms at CNY1.19 trillion.

     - The trade balance narrowed to $20.34 billion in the first month of 2018,

the smallest surplus since March 2015, due to rising imports but flat export

growth.

     - The European Union, the United States and Japan are still the three

leading trade partners to China. China exported $33.74 bln, $37.58 bln and

$12.45 bln to European Union, the United States and Japan respectively in

January. Imports from above three countries amounted to $23.84 bln, $15.69 bln

and $13.91 bln.

     - Both volume and value of commodities, especially iron & ore and crude oil

pushed up the imports in January -- China has imported 40.64 mln tons crude oil

this month compared with 33.70 mln tons in December, with the value of $18.77

bln vs $14.93 bln. It was a similar story for iron and ore imports: January

importing volume rose 19.3% and value rose 26.6% from the previous month.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; tel: +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: beijing@mni-news.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

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