Trade surplus rebounds in April
(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-05-11 14:20
Mei Xinyu, a trade expert with the Ministry of Commerce, attributed the robust exports to the
brisk world market demand. Given that a lion's share of China's exports are made
by foreign-invested processing companies, their production won't be easily
affected by the rising yuan or changing production costs.
"Many of the
engines of China's exports such as textile, clothing and steel are facing an
overcapacity on home turf, which means companies of these sectors must expand
their market aboard to survive," said Zhang Yansheng.
As a large
percentage of China's exports are lower-value-added products whose demand are
less sensitive to the price fluctuations, it is impossible to reduce the massive
exports in a short period of time, he said.
"But there is a critical
point to break the substantial expanding momentum in exports. It all depends on
how far local manufacturers can go with a rising production cost," Zhang
said.
Some economists have argued that the sharp rise in February and
deep slump in March were caused by exporters delivering March orders in February
in order to avoid losing out on export tax rebates.
The administration
seemed optimistic of bringing down the politically sensitive surplus which has
affected China's relations with a few trade partners.
It said that the newly added
surplus in April which rose by 60.8 percent from US$10.5 billion last April has
slowed down by 37.5 percentage points from the first quarter.
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