By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Chinese export growth beat forecasts but slowed down in October. Increasing global demand ahead of Christmas, a power crunch that is easing and improving supply chains that had been badly disrupted by COVID-19 all contributed to the growth.
Data released on Sunday showed that exports grew 27.1% year-on-year, with forecasts prepared by Investing.com predicting a 24.5% growth and a 28.1% growth reported in September.
However, the overall weakness in domestic demand cast a shadow on imports, which grew 20.6% year-on-year. Forecasts prepared by Investing.com had predicted a 25% growth, while a 17.6% growth was recorded during the previous month.
The strong exports would help to mitigate the weakening domestic economy and give the government greater room for maneuver on economic policy, Pinpoint Asset Management chief economist Zhiwei Zhang told Reuters.
"The government can afford to wait until the year-end to loosen monetary and fiscal policies, now that exports provide a buffer to smooth the economic slowdown," he added.
Some recent supply constraints, including a power crunch that had been triggered by a shortage of coal, tougher emission standards, and strong industrial demand, have started easing in recent weeks thanks to heavy government intervention.
Premier Li Keqiang said last week the government would take measures to support the industrial sector as the economy faces renewed downward pressures.
Meanwhile, the data also showed that the trade surplus for October was $84.54 billion, above the $65.55 billion figure in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and September’s $66.76 billion surplus.