Cargo ships dock at the container terminal in Lianyungang Port, east China’s Jiangsu Province, December 7, 2022.
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BEIJING – China’s customs administration said on Friday that China’s exports and imports fell less than expected in December.
A moderate recession means that trade will continue to grow throughout 2022.
China’s exports fell 9.9% in December from a year ago in US dollar terms, slightly better than the 10% decline predicted by a Reuters poll.
China’s imports fell 7.5% year-on-year in December in US dollar terms, also better than the 9.8% drop expected by Reuters.
Strong exports have boosted China’s economy in the past two years. But economists expect a slowdown in demand from the United States and Europe.
Already, China’s exports started to decline year-on-year in October – For the first time since May 2020according to wind information.
For the full year of 2022, the customs agency said, China’s exports grew by 7.7% and imports by 1.1%.
Cross-border e-commerce between China and other countries grew by 9.8% in 2022 compared to last year to 2.11 trillion yuan ($301.42 billion), according to official figures. These direct-to-consumer exports increased by 11.7% year-on-year.
However, that was a slowdown from 2021, when cross-border e-commerce in China rose 15% to 1.98 trillion yuan ($311.5 billion), and exports increased 24.5%.
China Imports from the European Union and the United States decreased in 2022, while those from ASEAN grew slightly.
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