China’s poor trade data ads pressure on RMB rate: ANZ

HONG KONG - China's exports surprisingly declined by 3.2% in January, putting its manufacturing sector under great pressures as both external and domestic demand remains sluggish, according to ANZ Bank. Figures show that shipments from China to the US and ASEAN economies rose by 4.9% and 15.6% in January, but exports to Europe, Japan and Hong Kong fell by 4.4%, 20.4% and 10.9% respectively.

Imports also dropped sharply by 19.7% in January, versus a 2.3% decline in the previous month, due to a crackdown on commodity financing. By volume, China's iron ore imports and crude oil imports fell by 9.4% and 0.6%. However, in value terms, iron ore imports dropped by 50.3%, and crude oil imports declined by 41.8%, reflecting the sharp drop of the commodity prices.
As imports continued to underperform, China registered another record high monthly trade surplus, at US$60 billion. www.live.anz.com (ATI).