Though the People's Daily translation is somewhat awkward, the message is clear. China's external commerce activities are visibly slowing down. It is somewhat surprising yet revealing to hear it directly from the official sources.
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| Shen Danyang (MOC) |
People's Daily: "China suffered the worst foreign trade performance in January since the burst of the global financial crisis with slumps in both export and import. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in January also slightly plunged, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday."Some of this slowdown is as expected blamed on the EU recession (which is probably true).
"The exports to the E.U. market fell as much as 3.2 percent, which apparently dragged down the export performance, Shen said."But domestic demand is also slowing. Of course the MOC is blaming "export restrictions imposed by the U.S. and the E.U."
"As to import, which fell remarkably 15.3 percent in January, Shen said the slack market demand both at home and abroad, together with the export restrictions imposed by the U.S. and the E.U., were the main barricade blocking China’s efforts to boost import."More on the EU demand slack:
"The detrimental consequences of the E.U. debt crisis went beyond the scope of trade and spread to the investment influx."And of course there is a comment on slowing China's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):
"In January, China used 10 billion U.S. dollars of FDI, down 0.3 percent year-on-year, confronting a negative growth three months in a row."But the official statement can never end on a weak note:
"Thanks to the stimulating policies to drive industrial upgrade, China’s southeast province Fujian accomplished rare positive growths in both export and import in January. The policies enticed the manufacturers to move up the value chain and beef up the edge in the international market."All is well.
Update: see Comments for some additional points and helpful links on the topic
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