China imports & exports slump in July: Customs

TIL Desk/Business/Beijing-China’s imports and exports both slumped in July, with its purchases plummeting by 12.5 per cent, Customs said today, in the latest poor figures from the world’s second-largest economy. Measured in US dollars, imports fell to USD 132.4 billion.

The drop was significantly larger than the 7.0 per cent median forecast in a survey of economists. Exports also fell in dollar terms, dropping 4.4 per cent to USD 184.7 billion and also below expectations of a 3.5 percent decline.

As the world’s biggest trader in goods, China is crucial to the global economy and its performance affects partners from Australia to Zambia, which have been battered by its slowing growth — while it faces headwinds itself in key developed markets. The July figures were the fourth month in a row that exports declined in dollar terms.