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PR Newswire
10-05-2015, 08:47 PM
China's Competitiveness Slides, Biting Into Exports
[ China’s exports unexpectedly declined in April and imports slumped, adding downward pressure on an economy grappling with overcapacity and waning competitiveness.
Overseas shipments fell 6.2 percent from a year earlier in yuan value, the customs administration said in Beijing on Friday. That compared with the median estimate for a 0.9 percent rise in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Imports slid 16.1 percent -- the fourth straight double-digit decline -- leaving a trade surplus of 210.21 billion yuan ($33.9 billion).
Stronger demand from a recovering U.S. economy is being offset by sluggishness in Europe and a slide in shipments to Japan, compounding challenges for a nation facing rising labor costs and a strong currency. The central bank has cut benchmark interest rates and banks’ reserve ratios twice in the last six months to cushion an economic slowdown.]
[“The weakness globally in the first quarter wasn’t transitory and it’s going to persist,” said Tim Condon, head of Asia research in Singapore at ING Groep NV. “It’s time for another rate cut. We could see something almost immediately based on these numbers.”
Exporters in the Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub are facing persistent labor shortages and rising wages, according to a survey of manufacturing clients by Standard Chartered Plc. The nation’s 274 million migrant workers, the backbone of China’s labor-intensive manufacturing industry, are getting older and more expensive, with their average age increasing to 38.3 years in 2014 from 35.5 five years earlier, according to a quarterly survey from the National Bureau of Statistics.
China’s currency has climbed more than 10 percent in the past year in trade-weighted terms, eroding competitiveness.]
[ China’s exports unexpectedly declined in April and imports slumped, adding downward pressure on an economy grappling with overcapacity and waning competitiveness.
Overseas shipments fell 6.2 percent from a year earlier in yuan value, the customs administration said in Beijing on Friday. That compared with the median estimate for a 0.9 percent rise in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Imports slid 16.1 percent -- the fourth straight double-digit decline -- leaving a trade surplus of 210.21 billion yuan ($33.9 billion).
Stronger demand from a recovering U.S. economy is being offset by sluggishness in Europe and a slide in shipments to Japan, compounding challenges for a nation facing rising labor costs and a strong currency. The central bank has cut benchmark interest rates and banks’ reserve ratios twice in the last six months to cushion an economic slowdown.]
[“The weakness globally in the first quarter wasn’t transitory and it’s going to persist,” said Tim Condon, head of Asia research in Singapore at ING Groep NV. “It’s time for another rate cut. We could see something almost immediately based on these numbers.”
Exporters in the Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub are facing persistent labor shortages and rising wages, according to a survey of manufacturing clients by Standard Chartered Plc. The nation’s 274 million migrant workers, the backbone of China’s labor-intensive manufacturing industry, are getting older and more expensive, with their average age increasing to 38.3 years in 2014 from 35.5 five years earlier, according to a quarterly survey from the National Bureau of Statistics.
China’s currency has climbed more than 10 percent in the past year in trade-weighted terms, eroding competitiveness.]
Virtual currencies are worth virtually nothing.
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