China’s international trade grows 4.6 percent in October

Beijing, Nov 7 (efe-epa).- China’s international trade grew 4.6 percent year-on-year in the month of October, according to official data published Saturday.

The General Administration of Customs said that during the last month, China’s trade exchanges with the rest of the world stood at 2.84 trillion yuan ($429.56 billion).

The exports jumped by 7.6 percent in October, while exports rose marginally by 0.9 percent.

Although sales to other countries exceeded projections by analysts, imports were markedly lower than the predictions, which had suggested a sharp growth in line with September, when imports had registered their highest jump of this year so far.

China’s trade surplus stood at 401.75 billion yuan in October, 33.4 percent higher compared to the same month in 2019.

The trade exchanges valued in yuan with the United States, a country which has been involved in a trade war with China since March 2018, surged by 20.4 percent during the past month, with exports jumping 18.4 percent and imports rising 28 percent.

During the first 10 months of the year, China’s foreign trade stood at 25.95 trillion yuan, 1.1 percent higher than the same period in 2019.

Between January to October, exports grew 2.4 percent while imports dropped 0.5 percent.

The trade surplus during the period stood at 2.71 trillion yuan, a 15.7 percent increase compared to the first 10 months of 2019.

In a separate release, the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on Saturday that the country’s foreign exchange reserve dropped 0.46 percent in October to around $3.13 trillion.

SAFE deputy administrator and spokesperson Wang Chunying attributed the drop to the falling prices of financial assets and currency exchange rates being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. EFE-EPA

vec/ia