China’s trade balance for December showed a significant increase, reaching CNY752.91 billion, up from CNY692.8 billion the previous month. This growth was largely driven by a notable surge in exports, which rose by 10.9% year-over-year, compared to a modest 1.5% increase in November. On the other hand, imports showed slow growth, increasing by 1.3% year-over-year, slightly higher than the 1.2% recorded in the preceding month.
When assessed in US dollar terms, China’s trade surplus for December also expanded, rising to $104.84 billion, which surpassed expectations of $99.8 billion and marked an increase from the previous month’s figure of $97.44 billion. Export activity accelerated, with a year-over-year growth of 10.7%, notably higher than the anticipated 7.3% and the previous month’s 6.7% increase. Meanwhile, imports showed a smaller gain, increasing by 1% year-over-year, against expectations of a decline of 1.5% and an even larger drop of 3.9% in the previous month.
For the entire year of 2023, China’s USD-denominated exports expanded by 5.9% annually, while imports experienced a modest increase of 1.1%. Additionally, China’s trade surplus with the United States in December was recorded at $33.5 billion, an increase from $29.81 billion in November. For 2024, the overall trade surplus with the US totaled $361.03 billion.
The strong trade data from China also had implications for currency exchange rates, particularly supporting the Australian dollar. The AUD/USD currency pair remained above the 0.6150 level, gaining 0.10% during the session to trade around 0.6157 at the time of reporting. This recovery in the Australian dollar is reflecting the positive sentiment generated from China’s robust trade performance.
