Las exportaciones de China se desaceleraron a niveles del 2009. El surplus se redujo a $14.5 billones ed $17 billones el mes anterior. Las importaciones se desaceleraron creciendo 22.1%
China’s Weakest Export Growth Since 2009 Raises Odds of More Easing by Wen
By Bloomberg News - Dec 9, 2011 11:21 PM ET .
China’s export growth slowed to the weakest pace since 2009, making the government more likely to further ease policies to sustain the expansion of the world’s second-largest economy.
Overseas shipments rose 13.8 percent in November from a year earlier, the customs bureau said today. Excluding distortions in January and February each year, that was the least since export growth resumed in December 2009. The trade surplus narrowed to $14.5 billion from $17 billion the previous month. Import growth slowed to 22.1 percent.
Europe’s debt crisis is capping exports just as Premier Wen Jiabao’s campaign to curb prices cools output. China may further lower reserve requirements for banks, reduce taxes for smaller companies, and boost spending on infrastructure, public housing and social welfare to spur growth after inflation fell to a 14-month low, HSBC Holdings Plc said.
“The downside risk in China’s economy continues to rise,” said Liu Li-Gang, a Hong Kong-based economist with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. A reserve-ratio cut before year- end is “very likely” and the government may use tax rebates to support exporters, said Liu, who previously worked at the World Bank and Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
November’s export growth compared with the 10.9 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 32 economists and a 15.9 percent increase in October. The value of shipments last month was $174.5 billion.
Europe Slide
Exports to the European Union, China’s biggest market, rose 5 percent from a year earlier, a quarter of the pace reported in July and August. Sales to Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, fell 1.6 percent last month from a year earlier and shipments to Italy dropped 23 percent, the third straight decline.
The increase in imports, which climbed to a record $159.9 billion, compared with a median estimate of 18.8 percent and a 28.7 percent increase in October. The median forecast for the trade surplus was $15.2 billion. The excess was $22.9 billion in November last year.
Inflation cooled to 4.2 percent last month as industrial output growth weakened, statistics bureau data showed yesterday. In a more positive sign for officials, retail sales growth accelerated.
The Politburo said yesterday that China will maintain a “prudent” monetary policy and a “proactive” fiscal policy next year, after a meeting chaired by President Hu Jintao ahead of an economic work conference that the Economic Observer newspaper said may take place Dec. 12-14.
Reserve-Ratio Cuts
“The government is leaving its boilerplate language on policy unchanged,” London-based Capital Economics Ltd. said in a note. “In practice, easing has begun.”
The People’s Bank of China lowered banks’ reserve requirements for the first time in almost three years effective Dec. 5 to encourage lending. Cuts in the ratio may be as frequent as one a month in the first half of next year as the economy’s slowdown sends a “strong signal” for further loosening, Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist for Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., said yesterday.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell yesterday to its lowest level since March 2009 as commodity producers Jiangxi Copper Co. and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co. slid. The gauge has declined for five straight weeks.
Yuan Forwards Drop
Investors have pared expectations for gains in the yuan, with twelve-month non-deliverable forwards dropping 0.5 percent last week to 6.4130 per dollar. The spot rate for the currency fell 0.1 percent to close at 6.3647 per dollar in Shanghai.
China’s trade surplus, a source of friction with nations including the U.S., has dropped from a peak of almost $300 billion in 2008 and the commerce ministry said last month that it may be as small as $150 billion this year.
The excess may disappear within two years as domestic demand rises, making the yuan’s value less of an issue with trading partners, Li Daokui, an academic adviser to the central bank said last month. The currency may even face depreciation pressure, he said in an interview.
Trade faces “severe” challenges next year, Wang Shouwen, head of the Commerce Ministry’s foreign trade department, said this week, adding that exports should grow provided Europe’s crisis doesn’t get out of control.
Expansion in overseas shipments will slow to 10 percent next year and trade will make a negative contribution to economic growth, China International Capital Corp. estimated in a research note this week.
China Cosco Holdings Co. (601919), the nation’s largest operator of dry-bulk and container vessels, warned on Oct. 27 it will report a full-year loss as rates for carrying commodities and containers have plunged. Chairman Wei Jiafu called 2011 the “most painful” year ever for world shipping.
--Victoria Ruan. With assistance from Li Yanping in Beijing and Ailing Tan in Singapore. Editors: Nerys Avery, Paul Panckhurst
To contact Bloomberg News staff on this story: Victoria Ruan in Beijing at
vruan1@bloomberg.net