Exports were down 5.1 percent to USD 11.5 billion (EUR 10.4 billion) in the period from January to July compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by the China Commercial & Industrial Research Institute and published in the Commercial Youth Daily.
Exports in volume terms totaled 2.35 million tons – a rise of 1.7 percent on the same period last year, indicating that China’s exports are increasing in line with government strategy to tap more developing-country markets, even as shipments to wealthier markets like the U.S. are falling.
However, China’s currency has slipped in value against the dollar, with China’s central bank on August 5 setting the yuan’s daily reference rate below CNY 7.00-per-U.S. dollar for the first time since 2008. A weaker yuan gives some breathing room to Chinese exporters. New tariffs of 10 percent on USD 300 billion (EUR 270.8 billion) worth of Chinese imports have been timed to go into effect on 1 September.
