Amid strong exports due to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, China's goods trade surplus from January to October this year was calculated to have exceeded $1 trillion.
The General Administration of Customs, China's customs authority, announced on the 10th that the goods trade surplus (in dollars) from January to October recorded $1.4259 billion (about 1402 trillion won), an 8% increase from $964.82 billion (about 1297 trillion won) in the same period last year.
This is the second time since last year that China's annual goods trade surplus has exceeded $1 trillion.
Last year, it recorded a cumulative $1.7585 trillion (about 1446 trillion won) as of November, but this year it reached $1 trillion a month earlier.
As such, this year's annual goods trade surplus is expected to exceed last year's previous record of $1.18898 trillion (approximately 1598 trillion won). Accordingly, some predict that trade pressure from trading partners such as the United States and the European Union (EU) may increase.
In China, exports support the economy amid sluggish domestic demand.
Zhang Zhiwei of Pinpoint Asset Management said, "The main growth engine of the Chinese economy this year has been export companies. Their good performance will continue for the time being," and added, "I do not expect the Chinese authorities' macro policy to change significantly within the year."
The Chinese economy is on track to achieve this year's growth target of 4.5-5%, with its gross domestic product (GDP) growing at 4.5% in the third quarter.
Exports in October recorded $412.33 billion (about 554 trillion won), a 35.2% increase compared to the same period last year. Although the growth rate was lower than the previous month (36.3%), it exceeded the market forecast compiled by Reuters (33.5%).
Imports in October were $37.05 billion (approximately 413 trillion won), up 41.6% from the same period last year, exceeding the previous month (31.0%) and the Reuters tally forecast (32.0%), recording the highest increase since 2021.
Accordingly, the goods trade surplus in October was $15.28 billion (about 141 trillion won), the lowest since May, and lower than the Reuters forecast of $125.8 billion (about 169 trillion won).
By item, exports of semiconductors and automobiles continued to boom.
In October, exports of integrated circuits increased 137.1% from the same period last year to $39.594 billion (about 53 trillion won), and imports increased 78.3% to $67.352.7 billion (about 90 trillion won).
In the same month, automobile exports amounted to $19.69 billion (approximately KRW 26 trillion), a 37.6% increase compared to the same month last year, and mobile phone exports increased by 13.2% to $17.57 billion (approximately KRW 23 trillion).
According to an announcement by the China Passenger Car Market Information Association (CPCA) the previous day, China's exports of new energy vehicles, including electric and hybrid vehicles, in October were 582,000 units, 144.7% more than the same period last year, while domestic sales of new energy vehicles in October fell 13.7% to only 1.109 million units.
Rare earth exports in October were 4,386 tons, up 2.7% from the previous month and 1% from the same period last year.
Thanks to the recovery of crude oil imports from the Middle East, including Iraq, China's crude oil imports in October reached 41.938 million tons, the highest in seven months. However, this is still about 13% lower than the same period last year before the Iran war.
Soybean imports in October were 7.345 million tons, a 22.5% decrease from the same period last year, the lowest since October 2023. It is assessed that the decrease in soybean imports was influenced by increased inventories and weak pork prices.
