Why China's export growth rebounds robustly

China’s foreign trade amounted to over 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars during the first five months of the year, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier, with exports climbing 8.7 percent from last year to 774.4 billion U.S. dollars. The country’s exports reached a record 181.1 billion U.S. dollars in May, with the year-on-year growth rate rising from 4.9 percent in April to 15.3 percent in May.

Policy of diversifying export markets pays off, with exports to United States, ASEAN growing rapidly.

China’s export growth rebounded in May mainly thanks to the good performance of certain major export markets. During the first five months of the year, the country’s exports to the United States, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Russia increased 14.4 percent, 14.8 percent, and 15.3 percent from a year earlier respectively, contributing 4.1 percent to the increase in exports during the period. Last month, the country’s exports to the United States, ASEAN, and Russia increased 23 percent, over 28.3 percent, and nearly 18.9 percent respectively.

The Ministry of Commerce said that the considerable increase in exports to the United States in May was due to the smooth U.S. economic recovery. The U.S. economy grew 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012 over the previous quarter, and consumer confidence also rose month by month, leading to an increase in the demand for imported goods. China’s policy of diversifying export markets has also paid off. The country’s exports to ASEAN have maintained relatively rapid growth thanks to the establishment of China-ASEAN free trade area, and are increasingly contributing to its export growth.

Experts believe that the export growth of May accorded with the market expectation but the growth rate was far more than the expectation. Seasonal factors were also an important reason. Generally, May and June are the months when new orders are placed densely and the completions and deliveries of the orders promoted the export growth.

A researcher from the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation Li Jian said that the May Day holidays of 2012 were April 29, April 30 and May 1 and it lowered the data of April and raised the data of May. On the other hand, the appreciation trend of the yuan slowed down in May and the yuan depreciated by 0.9 percent against the U.S. dollar in the month. That was obviously good for China's export enterprises.