China’s exports and imports fell more than expected in April, underlining weak demand at home and abroad and cooling hopes of a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
Exports fell 1.8 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said on Sunday, reversing the previous month’s brief recovery and supporting the government’s concerns that the foreign trade environment will be challenging in 2016.
April imports dropped 10.9 percent from a year earlier, falling for the 18th consecutive month, suggesting domestic demand remains weak despite a pickup in infrastructure spending and record credit growth in the first quarter.
“Both exports and imports came in weaker than expected, in line with the soft trade performance across Asia, pointing to another challenging year for emerging markets,” said Zhou Hao, senior emerging market economist at Commerzbank in Singapore.
China’s exports to the United States – the country’s top export market – fell 9.3 percent in April from a year earlier, while shipments to the European Union – the second biggest market, rose 3.2 percent, customs data showed.
China’s cabinet has vowed to take steps to boost exports, including encouraging banks to boost lending, expanding export credit insurance and raise tax rebates for some firms.
China had a trade surplus of $45.56 billion in April, versus forecasts of $40 billion.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected April exports to fall 0.1 percent, after a surprise 11.5 percent rise in March, and expected imports to fall 5 percent, following March’s 7.6 percent decline.