China's export value down 17.5% in Jan.

BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Chinese media) -- China's export volume decreased 17.5 percent

year-on-year to 90.45 billion U.S. dollars in January, the General

Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

The import volume, however, fell by a much larger degree of 43.1 percent to

51.34 billion U.S. dollars.

Total foreign trade was 141.8 billion U.S. dollars, with the trade surplus

up 102 percent over the same month of last year to 39.1 billion U.S. dollars.

However, the customs administration said, after deducting the effect of the

week-long Spring Festival holiday, the year-on-year export growth was 6.8

percent and the import decline was 26.4 percent on real term. On a monthly

basis, the export volume was up10.1 percent on December and the import value

down 3.8 percent.

While the January trade figures were "in part distorted by the affect of

the Chinese new year, they indicate a continuing deterioration in the underlying

fundamentals," said Wang Qing, chief analyst on Chinese economy with Morgan

Stanley Asia.

Of the total January external trade, foreign-funded companies accounted for

52.2 percent, or 74.05 billion U.S. dollars, down 32.3 percent from a year ago,

and state-owned businesses made up 22.3 percent, or 31.65 billion dollars, down

34.8 percent.

The total included 27.93 billion U.S. dollars in trade between China and

the European Union, down 18.7 percent; 22.25 billion dollars in trade between

China and the United States, down 15.2 percent; and 14.5 billion dollars in

trade between China and Japan, down 28 percent.

In January China exported 10.51 billion U.S. dollars worth of clothing, up

5.7 percent on the same month of last year, and 2.91 billion dollars worth of

shoes, up 10.6 percent.

Zhang Yansheng, senior economist on foreign trade and international

cooperation with the National Development and Reform Commission, noted that

given shrinking demand from the European Union and the U.S., the monthly change

in exports was a result from tax rebates, efforts by central and local

governments to ensure credit extension to exporters and the stability of foreign

exchange of Chinese currency.

January export value of machines and electronics, which accounted for 54.3

percent of China's total exports, fell 20.9 percent to 49.14 billion U.S.

dollars, and export volume of new- and high-tech products dropped 28 percent to

21.66 billion U.S. dollars.

According to the customs administration, in January China bought from

abroad 32.65 million tonnes of iron ores, down 11.2 percent from a year earlier;

12.82 million tonnes of crude oil, down 8 percent; 2.39 million tonnes of

refined oil, down 26.2 percent. Arrivals of finished industrial products were

37.49 billion dollars worth, down 39.9 percent.

China faces the worst international economic environment since the Second

World War, with lingering high pressure on its exports, said Fan Jianping, head

of the economic prediction department under the government think tank State

Information Center.

"The large trade surplus stemmed from the big decline in arrivals, which

indicated that China's domestic demand and consumption remained lukewarm," Fan

noted.

Zhang Xiaoji, a senior economist on foreign trade and international

cooperation with the Development Research Center of the State Council, another

major government think tank, agreed.

"The larger import decline showed that policies to boost domestic demand

and consumption were yet to pay off. China must stick to such policies against

the international financial crisis."