China's Exports Turn Negative After 3 Months... Down 7.5% Year-on-Year

China's export performance in May deteriorated, falling short of market expectations.

On the 7th, the General Administration of Customs of China announced that last month's export value was $283.5 billion (approximately 368.6634 trillion KRW), down 7.5% year-on-year. This figure significantly underperformed both the previous month's figure (8.5%) and market expectations (-0.4%). The monthly export growth rate turned negative for the first time in three months since February this year (-6.8%). After surging to 14.8% in March and declining to 8.5% in April, it sharply retreated within a month.

Imports amounted to $217.7 billion, down 4.5% year-on-year. This was better than the previous month's figure (-7.5%) and market expectations (-8%). As a result, the trade surplus was $65.81 billion, a 16.1% decrease compared to the previous year. This performance was below the previous month's figure ($90.2 billion) and the forecast ($71.6 billion).

The trade situation by country and product for May was posted on the official website based only on cumulative figures and the yuan currency. Exports and imports to ASEAN and the European Union (EU) increased, while trade with the United States and Japan declined.

From January to May, trade with ASEAN reached 2.59 trillion yuan, up 9.9%, accounting for 15.4% of China's total foreign trade volume. Trade with the EU was 2.28 trillion yuan, up 3.6%, representing 13.6% of the total. Trade volume with the United States, which has experienced supply chain conflicts with China, decreased by 5.5%. The trade surplus with the U.S. was 870.6 billion yuan, plunging 14.5% year-on-year. Trade volume with Japan also declined by 3.5% on a cumulative basis.

By product category, exports from January to May saw a sharp increase in automobiles by 124.1%, while clothing and accessories and plastic products rose by 6.6% and 9%, respectively. Exports of automatic data processing equipment and parts (-18.1%), mobile phones (-6.4%), and textiles (-2.4%) decreased. Based on import values, integrated circuits such as semiconductors fell by 18.4%, and automobiles dropped by 21.7%.