Tue Jul 10, 2012, 12:49 AM

alp227 (20,408 posts)

Chinese trade surplus jumps to $31.7bn

Source: Financial Times

Chinese export and import growth both slowed in June, showing that the world’s second-largest economy faces strong headwinds.

Exports rose 11.3 per cent from a year earlier, down from May’s 15.3 per cent pace. Imports increased 6.3 per cent from a year earlier, half of May’s 12.7 per cent and well below expectations.

With imports so weak, China was able to pull in a trade surplus of $31.7bn, nearly double May’s total and the country’s biggest in more than three years. The trade numbers followed inflation data that underscored the downturn in the Chinese economy.

Lu Ting, an economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, noted that exports were at least holding up far better than they did in late 2008, when global financial turmoil led to a sharp plunge in trade.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8ca9bf6-ca40-11e1-a5e2-00144feabdc0.html

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10 replies	Author	Time	Post
Chinese trade surplus jumps to $31.7bn (Original post)	alp227	Jul 2012	OP
K&R	DeSwiss	Jul 2012	#1
They are going to have some major problems very soon	davidpdx	Jul 2012	#2
Wouldn't the supply and demand make the houses worth a lot less?	treestar	Jul 2012	#4
As the report in my link above states:	DeSwiss	Jul 2012	#5
What a waste of money	davidpdx	Jul 2012	#9
China is just too stable	OverseaVisitor	Jul 2012	#3
Yeah.....	DeSwiss	Jul 2012	#6
Yeah	OverseaVisitor	Jul 2012	#7
Yeah.....	DeSwiss	Jul 2012	#8
I just came back with a huge back of those	davidpdx	Jul 2012	#10

Response to alp227 (Original post)

Tue Jul 10, 2012, 03:21 AM

DeSwiss (17,172 posts)

1. K&R

China’s Economy Has Completely Flatlined- Gordon Chang
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/china-economy-completely-flatlined-gordon-chang-180121322.html

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Response to DeSwiss (Reply #1)

Tue Jul 10, 2012, 08:02 AM

davidpdx (8,777 posts)

2. They are going to have some major problems very soon

I happened to see the question of the week on Fareed Zakaria's show was about interest rates in China. They are 6% right now. The government has been trying to slow growth, but it may have stalled instead.

Last month I came back from China (was there for 9 months) and the amount of housing they are building is overwhelming. The problem is that no one can afford it. I was walking along a street near the university I work at and a coworker was pointing out some new townhouses. Apparently most of them are empty. We went up and ask the guard how much they cost. His response was "too much".

Another quick story...there was a village nearby our university that had all kinds of shops, stores and a pharmacy. They (the government) came in and ripped the whole thing up. The people are selling stuff in tents along the side of the road, but the village, it's still there. At least the rubble is.

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Response to davidpdx (Reply #2)

Tue Jul 10, 2012, 10:47 AM

treestar (40,421 posts)

4. Wouldn't the supply and demand make the houses worth a lot less?

Of course less than it cost to build them, but still. The whole thing is an entire loss if they build it with no one to sell it to.

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Response to davidpdx (Reply #2)

Tue Jul 10, 2012, 05:28 PM

DeSwiss (17,172 posts)

5. As the report in my link above states:

Last edited Tue Jul 10, 2012, 05:35 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

...the Chinese government has previously ordered construction to take place irrespective of the market demand. And when you're a country who is also a bank, you don't argue with the boss when s/he says make loans!

Likewise, other reports have shown that electric use and the concentration of oil supplies and the drop in the use of other fuels (coal) can only mean that they're not being used.

So those who depend upon the veracity of China's economic statistics for guidance on where the economy stands, will be lead astray. Besides, no manager within their CommuCapitalistic system wants to risk having to be ''re-educated'' for turning in the wrong kind of numbers anyways.

- But you'll have to admit, for Ghost Cities, they look real nice and clean and everything.......

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Response to DeSwiss (Reply #5)

Wed Jul 11, 2012, 07:53 AM

davidpdx (8,777 posts)

9. What a waste of money

The other problem is China's population is going to start declining soon. The One Child policy will be their undoing. I'm hoping they have a bigger housing bubble than the US had.

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Response to DeSwiss (Reply #1)

Tue Jul 10, 2012, 10:44 AM

OverseaVisitor (183 posts)