September 6, 2017 What do foreign trade statistics tell us about the growth of the Chinese economy? Fabiana D Atri The Chinese economy has been recording widespread and sustainable growth in 2017, and has provided positive surprises since January. This shift has been evidenced in surprise indices, which compare actual and expected results. Even considering a certain level of frustration with the numbers from July, when the economy partially adjusted for the strong acceleration of the previous few months, the year-to-date results so far are positive and compatible with growth above the GDP target of 6.5% set for 2017. Despite the ongoing adjustments in the housing and financial sectors, favorable external demand and a resilient domestic economy have kept spending and investment at strong levels, supporting industrial activity. China s import and export numbers confirm this widespread improvement, which started in the middle of last year. If we compare these statistics with those of Brazil s main trading partners, we become even more confident of a genuine recovery of both Chinese and the global economy. And even though an analysis of foreign trade data reveals a discrepancy between the numbers reported by different economies, all indices are headed in the same direction. China: índice de surpresas com indicadores de atividade economica (números positivos indicam que resultados efetivos foram superiores aos esperados; o contrário é verdadeiro). Fonte: Bloomberg Chart 1 China: economic activity surprise index* 3,0 2,0 1,0 0,0 0,324-1,0-2,0-3,0-4,0 fev/07 abr/08 jun/09 ago/10 out/11 dez/12 fev/14 abr/15 jun/16 jun/17 (*) positive numbers indicate that the actual results were higher than expected. Source: Bloomberg, Bradesco China s export and import data make for an excellent barometer of the global economy. Because the country is the world s largest exporter and second largest importer 1, these statistics can provide some insight into the world s main economies. Chinese exports have grown 8.3% year-to-date through July, compared to 9.1% over the same period last year. To that end, we have seen an improvement across all regions, with Asia, Europe and the U.S. growing 5.0%, 7.8% and 11.0% on the same basis of comparison. Together, these three regions account for approximately 60% of Chinese external sales. Since nearly 95% of Chinese sales are concentrated in manufactured goods, we understand that the global economy s recovery has been an important driver of the country s industrial production so far. 1 According to WTO statistics, China, the U.S., Germany, Japan and the Netherlands were the world s largest exporters in 2016 (accounting for 13.2%, 9.1%, 8.4%, 4.0% and 3.6% of all exports, in that order). Last year, the U.S., China, Germany, the U.K. and Japan were the world s largest importers (respective accounting for 13.9%, 9.8%, 6.5%, 3.9% and 3.7% of the world s imports). Macroeconomic Research Department 1
At the same time, we get some important signs from Chinese imports, which show a genuine improvement of the country s economy. Purchases grew 17.6% year-to-date through July, against a 10.7% decline in this indicator over the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, commodities and manufactured goods2, have grown 41.6% and 9.6% through June 3, respectively. The following chart demonstrates the well-known high correlation between imports of manufactured goods and exports, since China is the assembly center for several global value chains, especially in Asia. In any case, we must note that we have seen a certain reversal of this movement in recent years, since China has been increasingly adding value to its manufactured goods, which has led to a declining share of imported content in its exports. On the other hand, the purchases of metal and mineral commodities are closely associated with the cycle of investments in infrastructure and the housing sector, whose statistics are strongly influenced by the price effect. The purchase of food items has remained at high levels, reflecting the increase in consumer spending. China: importações e exportações (variação em 12 meses). Fonte: CEIC Chart 2 China: imports and exports (12-month change) 8 6 import of commodities import of manufactured goods total exports 4 2 19,4% 3,3% -0,8% -2-4 Aug-11 Mar-12 Oct-12 May-13 Dec-13 Jul-14 Feb-15 Sep-15 Apr-16 Nov-16 Jun-17 If we compare the statistics of Chinese imports with the corresponding exports to China from its main trading partners, we find that the trends are very similar, but there is a discrepancy in volumes, as seen in charts 3 and 4. For this exercise, our starting point is China s main destinations and suppliers, based on this year s data, as shown in table 1. We then consider China s import numbers as reported by its customs office, in U.S. dollars, and we also convert other countries values into U.S. currency. In this sample of Chinese imports, we have chosen the largest exporters of manufactured goods (Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany and the U.S.) and of commodities (Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Canada and Australia). Together, these countries account for over 60% of Chinese purchases over the last few years. 2 In 2017, year-to-date through June, commodity and manufactured goods have accounted for 32% and 68% of all imports, respectively. 3 The broken-down data shown here is only available through June 2017. Macroeconomic Research Department 2
China: importações originárias dos principais parceiros comerciais da China vs exportações agregadas desses mesmos parceiros. Variação em 12 meses. Fonte: CEIC Chart 3 China: imports from China s major trading partners vs. aggregate exports by same partners. 12- month change 15,0% aggregate statistics for trading partners aggregate statistics for China 13,1% 1 8,8% 5,0% -5,0% -1-15,0% China: importações originárias dos principais parceiros comerciais da China vs exportações agregadas desses mesmos parceiros. em US$. Fonte: CEIC Chart 4 China: imports from China s major trading partners vs. aggregate exports by same partners, in USD 120.000 110.000 aggregate statistics for China aggregate statistics for trading partners 100.000 98.266 90.000 80.000 70.000 60.000 61.705 50.000 40.000 Macroeconomic Research Department 3
Table 1. China s main trading partners (% of total, in USD), in 2017 Exports Imports Total Trade USA 18.5% 8.8% 14.1% Japan 6.2% 9.0% 7.4% Korea 4.7% 9.4% 6.8% Hong Kong 11.8% 0.4% 6.7% Taiwan 1.9% 7.9% 4.6% Germany 3.2% 5.2% 5.1% Australia 1.8% 5.6% 3.5% Vietnam 3.1% 2.3% 2.7% Malaysia 1.9% 3.0% 2.4% Brazil 1.2% 3.3% 2.2% India 3.1% 1.0% 2.1% Russia 1.9% 2.4% 2.1% Thailand 1.7% 2.3% 2.0% Singapore 2.1% 1.8% 2.0% United Kingdom 2.5% 1.3% 2.0% Netherlands 2.8% 0.6% 1.9% Indonesia 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% Saudi Arabia 0.9% 1.8% 1.3% France 1.2% 1.4% 1.3% Canada 1.4% 1.2% 1.3% Philippines 1.4% 1.0% 1.2% Italy 1.3% 1.1% 1.2% Mexico 1.5% 0.6% 1.1% United Arab 1.3% 0.7% 1.1% South Africa 0.7% 1.4% 1.0% Total 79.8% 74.9% 77.6% Therefore, the statistics reported by the countries are generally synchronized with China s results. We also built some proxies by groups of countries in order to allow us to separate the domestic dynamics from the external dynamics. In other words, we gathered the results of commodity and manufactured goods exporting countries. The charts below illustrate these results and reinforce our conclusions: (i) it is difficult to anticipate any movement, even though China s statistics seem to signal a reversal of trends with a few months difference from its partners; (ii) the direction is the same, but the magnitude is different, and Chinese statistics tend to be exaggerated when compared to its partners; (iii) there is no sign of a reversal of current trends, sustaining the commodity and manufactured goods exporting economies. Therefore, we believe that statistics remain important, because they are reported only a few days after the end of the month, making them one of the first indicators of the dynamics of the world economy. Macroeconomic Research Department 4
China: importações originárias dos principais parceiros comerciais da China vs exportações agregadas desses mesmos parceiros - amostra de commodities. Variação em 12 meses. Fonte: CEIC Chart 5 China: imports from China s major trading partners vs. aggregate exports by same partners - commodity sample. 12-month change 25,0% 2 15,0% 1 5,0% -5,0% -1-15,0% -2 aggregate statistics for major trading partners aggregate statistics for China 19,3% 12,7% -25,0% Source: China: importações CEIC, Bradesco originárias dos principais parceiros comerciais da China vs exportações agregadas desses mesmos parceiros - amostra de manufaturados. Variação em 12 meses. Fonte: CEIC Chart 6 China: imports from China s major trading partners vs. aggregate exports by same partners - manufactured goods sample. 12-month change 15,0% 1 5,0% aggregate statistics for major trading partners aggregate statistics for China 10,5% 7,5% -5,0% -1-15,0% An exception should be made for trade relations with Hong Kong, as there have been some significant discrepancies in the last few years. When we compare what China reports to have purchased from Hong Kong with what the country reports to have sold to China, we can clearly see that something is amiss. In fact, since China faced significant capital flight in 2015, trade between these two regions was used as a way to cover up such capital outflows. In other words, by overestimating purchases from Hong Kong, China would be able to justify the outflow of funds destined to pay for such goods. These statistics began to be corrected since the middle of last year, however, when the Chinese government began to tighten up controls on the loss of reserves. Therefore, we excluded imports from Hong Kong the sample. The chart below illustrates this discrepancy. Macroeconomic Research Department 5
China: importações advindas de Hong Kong, segundo estatísticas chinesas e exportações de Hong Kong para a China. Variação em 12 meses. Fonte: CEIC DEPEC Highlight Bradesco Chart 7 China: imports from Hong Kong, according to Chinese statistics and Hong Kong exports to China. 12- month change 8 6 4 importsfrom Hong Kong, according to China exports from Hong Kong to China, according Hong Kong 8,0% 6,81% 6,0% 4,0% 2 2,0% -2-2,0% -4-6 -4,0% -42,9% -6,0% For Brazil, this exercise reveals some similarity in the import quantities reported by Brazil and what China claims to have sold to Brazil. However, the discrepancy is greater when it comes to our exports (and the corresponding Chinese imports), with China reporting much higher numbers. Nonetheless, the direction is the same, considering the changes. Table 2. Trade between Brazil and China: comparing the statistics of the two countries, Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) and China Customs. In USD millions. For 2017, we considered the year-to-date through July China exports to Brazil Brazil imports from China China imports from Brazil Brazil exports to China 1905 24,465.430 25,595.419 38,038.108 30,785.906 1905 31,857.387 32,790.635 52,648.844 44,314.595 1905 33,427.492 34,251.274 52,059.717 41,227.540 1905 36,191.956 37,303.817 53,666.070 46,026.153 1905 34,927.044 37,344.882 51,976.160 40,616.108 1905 27,430.287 30,718.992 44,386.353 35,607.524 Importações da China originárias do Brasil vs Exportações do Brasil para a China. Variação em 12 meses. Fonte: MDIC e China Customs 1905 22,175.709 23,364.477 45,407.631 35,138.462 1905 15,669.763 14,506.726 34,247.983 30,790.057 Chart 8 Chinese imports from Brazil vs. Brazilian exports to China. 12-month change Chinese imports from Brazil 25,0% exports from Brazil to China 2 15,0% 1 5,0% -5,0% -1-15,0% -2-25,0% -3 14,7% 13,5% Source: MDIC and China Customs, Bradesco Macroeconomic Research Department 6
Finally, even though the purpose of this text was not to question Chinese statistics, it is worth mentioning other studies on this topic, which has drawn increased attention after it was known that Chinese authorities were inflating Hong Kong imports to facilitate the outflow of funds from China. According to a recent study by the Central Bank of Australia 4, even if all countries follow the same international standards to calculate world trade data, discrepancies may emerge due to a few different factors: (i) China still uses Hong Kong as a re-exporting center, which may result in different values than those reported by the importing or exporting country; (ii) the differences may be due to costs such as insurance and freight, currency conversion and the time between the departure and receipt of goods; (iii) there are incentives to misreport trade numbers, due to import tariffs, tax rebates and capital flight. We must also note that the results from the aforementioned study were similar to those from our exercises. Another study, published by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank 5, compares Chinese imports with exports from the U.S., Europe and Japan to China. One of the conclusions is that the movement of trade values, from both perspectives, are associated. In other words, confronting Chinese statistics with those of its main trading partners increases our conviction that the global economy has been improving across different regions over the past few quarters. Based on the latest third-quarter results, we expect the pace of growth to slow down going forward when compared to the first half of the year. That goes for both China as for the vast majority of countries. In this case, we especially believe that government restrictions imposed especially on the housing sector and increased regulation of the financial system aimed at containing systemic risks arising from high leveraging will promote a controlled cooling of the economy. By monitoring these statistics over the next few months, we will have an additional reference to monitor the intensity of this expected slowdown. 2 Day, Iris (2015). Assessing China s Merchandise Trade Data Using Mirror Statistics. Bulletin Reserve Bank of Australia. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/dec/pdf/bu-1215-3.pdf. Retrieved on August 20, 2017. 3 John Fernald, Eric Hsu, and Mark M. Spiegel. (2015). Is China Fudging its Figures? Evidence from Trading Partner Data. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/files/wp2015-12.pdf. Retrieved on August 20, 2017. Macroeconomic Research Department 7
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