China April foreign trade drops 10.9%

File photo shows cargo containers at a Shanghai port in 2014 [Xinhua]

China’s foreign trade declined by 10.9 percent in April from a year earlier, with exports dropping 6.2 percent and imports plummeting 16.1 percent, official data showed on Friday.

Last month, foreign trade volume dropped by 10.9 per cent year on year to 1.96 trillion yuan ($320.56 billion) from a year earlier, following a 13.5-per cent decrease in March and an 11.3-per cent increase in February, said the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

But April’s exports declined 6.2 per cent, 8.4 percentage points less than a 14.6-per cent slump in March, indicating the external environment is improving.

Trade surplus soared by 85.2 per cent to 210.21 billion yuan last month, while expanding 3.4 times to 965.37 billion yuan in the Jan.-April period, the GAC said.

China’s trade with the European Union, its biggest trade partner, waned by 4.9 per cent from January to April, while that with the United States, the second largest, rose 2.3 per cent.

Trade with Japan plummeted by 11 per cent during this period.

 

Source: Agencies