China Exports Rise Less than Estimated

This marked the eleventh straight month of increase in outbound shipments, as more countries reopened their economies although higher raw material costs, global chip shortage, logistics bottlenecks and lower capacity in Guangdong due to the coronavirus outbreak weighed on sales. Exports increased for unwrought aluminium and products (15.6%), steel products (19.8%) and rare earth (45.6%) but fell for grains (-34.3%) and autoprocessing products and parts (-4%). Exports from all major trading partners rose: Japan (5%), South Korea (29.9%), Taiwan (31.3%), the EU (12.6%), the US (20.6%), Australia (1.4%), and ASEAN (40.6%). Considering the first five months of the year, exports jumped 40.2%.