Friday, August 2nd, 2013
Given that fact that there was one more business day in July this year than the last, the export performance was slightly below the expected level. The average daily export volume was $1,830 million, down 1.5 percent from the same month last year. This is the lowest level since August last year when the average figure was $1,790 million.
But the bright side is that the export number rose despite the news that the U.S. monetary authority may phase out its quantitative easing measures earlier than expected and the Chinese economy is in danger of a hard landing.
By export destination, the exports to the EU area rose 8.2 percent from a year ago. Other regions including China (14.5%) and the U.S. (8.5%) also showed a robust growth pace. By export item, mobile communications (27.3%), semiconductors (21.8%), and petrochemical products (7.8%) led the pack. Ship exports also rose 19.3 percent in July following a 7.2-percent growth in June, raising expectations that the shipbuilding sector may finally get out of the years-old downturn.