Despite being in the middle of a trade war with the U.S., China’s export last month remains high, beating Reuters’ poll. The surge came as China is seeking other markets outside the U.S. to avoid high tariffs. Meanwhile, its import showed a slight drop in April.
According to customs authority’s data, China’s exports in April surged by 8.1% YoY in U.S. dollar terms, significantly ahead of Reuters’ poll estimation of 1.9% rise. As for the import rate, the figure dropped by 0.2% YoY, far less than the economists’ speculation of a 5.9% drop.
These figures come as a surprise since the rates of China’s shipment to and from the U.S. last month dropped tremendously. Chinese export to the U.S. fell over 21% YoY in April, while import dropped nearly 14%.
Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint asset management, stated that the surge of China’s overall export may be partly due to the trade the nation had with other third countries and the contracts all parties agreed to before the announcement of the tariff.
Nonetheless, Zhang anticipated that China’s trade level would eventually weaken in the next few months when the impact caused by the tariff finally kicked in. China has been trying to soften the damage as the nation recently announced several stimulus measures.
