Chinese exports fell 3.2 per cent year on year in September - the biggest monthly decline since February - underlining the impact of the trade war with the US and softer global demand on the world's second largest economy.
The figures, whose release follows the agreement of a truce in the trade war between Washington and Beijing last week, showed that China's imports from the US dropped 26.4 per cent last month while its exports to the country fell 10.7 per cent.
The data from China's General Administration of Customs showed the overall decline in the country's exports was far steeper than a 1 per cent fall in August and slightly higher than the 3 per cent drop forecast for September by economists polled by Reuters.
"The US-China trade tensions have continued taking a toll on Chinese trade data," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group.
The figures come at a critical juncture for trade relations with Washington after Donald Trump said the two sides had reached a "substantial phase one deal " during talks last week.
Details of the agreement are expected to be agreed over the next five weeks ahead of an expected summit between Mr Trump and Xi Jinping, China's president, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting in Chile.
The limited trade deal also delayed the introduction of further tariffs on Chinese goods that were set to take effect this week.
The trade figures were released ahead of Chinese gross domestic product data for the third quarter on Friday. Economists expect GDP growth in the third quarter to have slowed further to 6.1 per cent year on year, down from 6.2 per cent in the previous period, which would be the slowest growth in almost three decades.
The September decline in exports came in the same month that Washington increased levies on more than $110bn of Chinese imports to 15 per cent, with Beijing responding in kind.
The new tariffs were "partly to blame for the weak data", according to economists at Capital Economics.
Imports slipped 8.5 per cent year on year in September, in the biggest fall since May and overshooting forecasts of a 5.2 per cent drop.
Capital Economics economists said in a research note that the figures showed the effects of slowing global demand. Exports would remain subdued in coming quarters although they expected import growth would recover "soon".
"Import growth has slowed sharply in recent quarters and now looks unusually weak relative to economic growth," the economists said.
Beijing has introduced a series of stimulus measures in an attempt to shore up growth in the face of the trade war and slowing domestic demand. However, an official survey of the manufacturing sector showed it had shrunk for a fifth consecutive month in September.
The US-China trade war has hit supply chains across Asia. Data from Singapore on Monday showed it had narrowly avoided entering a technical recession in the third quarter, despite falling exports.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
