China’s Trade Surplus Shrinks to Less-Than-Expected USD13.8 billion in March
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Apr 13 2021
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China’s Trade Surplus Shrinks to Less-Than-Expected USD13.8 billion in March China’s Trade Surplus Shrinks to Less-Than-Expected USD13.8 billion in March

(Yicai Global) April 13 -- China’s trade surplus narrowed to USD13.8 billion last month as imports swelled, according to official data. That was much less than the average USD51.2 billion predicted by 20 chief economists polled by Yicai Global.

Overall trade volume was up 34.2 percent year on year in March to USD468.5 billion, figures released by the General Administration of Customs showed today. Imports surged 38.1 percent to USD227.3 billion, while exports jumped 30.6 percent to USD241.1 billion.

Economists had forecast exports to gain by 31.8 percent and imports by 18.5 percent.

The higher-than-expected jump in imports was partly due to a big increase in the volume of industrial and agricultural commodities being brought into the country and a surge in global commodity prices.

In the first quarter, the trade surplus was USD116.35 billion, a huge jump from the USD13.2 billion recorded a year ago when the economy was stalled by the coronavirus outbreak.

First-quarter trade gained 38.6 percent to USD1.3 trillion. Exports were up 49 percent to USD710 billion and imports leapt 28 percent to USD593.62 billion.

During the first two months of this year, exports gained 60.6 percent while imports rose 22.2 percent to give a surplus of USD103.3 billion.

Editor: Kim Taylor

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Keywords:   Economic Data,Trade Surplus,Import,Export,General Administration of Customs