China Data - May 2023

On June 7th, the General Administration of Customs, China released the import and export data for the month of May. The export growth rate, measured in USD, recorded a decline of 7.5% compared to the same period last year, surpassing market expectations of around -1%. This performance is poor compared to the 8.5% growth rate seen in the previous month.

Although few people believe that the high export growth in China in March and April can be sustained, and despite the high base effect resulting from the backlog of export orders after the Shanghai outbreak last April, a decline of -7.5% is still a significant drop in exports that exceeds market expectations.

=== China's Foreign Trade Imports and Exports in May ===

According to China customs statistics, China's imports and exports in May reached 3.45 trillion yuan, a growth of 0.5%. The breakdown is as follows:

Exports amounted to 1.95 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.8%;

Imports amounted to 1.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3%;

Trade surplus amounted to 452.33 billion yuan, narrowing by 9.7%.

In terms of USD, China's imports and exports in May amounted to 501.19 billion dollars, a decline of 6.2%. The breakdown is as follows:

Exports amounted to 283.5 billion dollars, a decrease of 7.5%;

Imports amounted to 217.69 billion dollars, a decrease of 4.5%;

Trade surplus amounted to 65.81 billion dollars, narrowing by 16.1%.