Others News
- Trade surplus near record
Date: 14-Mar-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA'S already large exports have accelerated further this year, with the country's customs agency announcing Monday that the trade surplus in February nearly tied a record set in October.
The size of the February surplus, US$23.76 billion, particularly surprised economists because Chinese exports tend to slow in the winter after surging in late summer and autumn, when deliveries are made to retailers preparing for Christmas.
The country's rising trade surpluses with the United States have produced growing pressure in U. S. Congress in recent weeks, and the announcement Monday is likely to feed the debate.
U. S. lawmakers have proposed steep duties on Chinese exports unless China takes immediate action to end government subsidies to industries and to allow its currency to rise faster against the dollar.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China's central bank, said at a news conference with Bo on Monday that China would develop a financial system that depended more on markets and would allow greater flexibility in the value of the yuan, news agencies reported from Beijing.
Chinese officials have periodically said that they might widen the limit on how much the yuan can trade up or down within a single day, currently set at three-tenths of a percent.
Monday's Shanghai Securities Journal quoted Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai as saying the country would take further steps to rein in China's surging trade surplus this year. The publication didn't say what steps might be taken.
It will take time for China to gradually address its trade imbalance on the international market, said Zhou.
The February surplus nearly matched the record of US$23.8 billion set in October. For January and February together, a common adjustment made to eliminate the tendency of Chinese New Year festivities to move back and forth in the two months, the surplus soared to US$39.6 billion this year compared with US$12.2 billion in the same months of 2006.
Most of the gain has come from a sharp rise in exports, while imports have slowed slightly. That suggests that the appreciation of the yuan has not yet had a significant effect, said Liang Hong, a Goldman Sachs economist.
A higher valued yuan has meant increased revenues for exporters, while imported primary products, which were less costly, led to a slower rise in the value of imports, said Mei Xinyu, a research fellow with the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute under the Ministry of Commerce.
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