The world’s second largest economy tumbled double digit in January with exports dropping 11.2% year-on-year to $177.5 billion and imports plummeting 18.8% to $114.2 billion. The figures are worse than the speculated 1.9% drop in exports and 0.8% drop in imports by the analysts.
On the other hand, yuan-denominated data shows exports fell 6.6% in January and imports slid 14.4% from a year ago, which leaves the country with a trade surplus of 406.2 billion yuan for the month. The economic growth rate of the country is reported to be at a 25-year-low 6.6% in 2015.
Nomura analysts said, “We believe the slump in trade growth mainly reflects weakening investment demand, possibly from weaker property investment and measures to reduce overcapacity.” To counter slowing growth, China’s policy makers have taken a slew of easing measures, including interest rate and reserve requirement ratio cuts from the central bank.
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