Consumer demand more than indicated
The latest trade data may have caused some raised eyebrows about the health of China's economy, which is a key growth engine for the global economy, but it is simply counterintuitive to believe that, while Chinese consumers are buying out formula milk powder in other countries' supermarkets, its domestic demand is as battered as the double-digit plunge in its imports suggest.
The General Administration of Customs said China's foreign trade declined for the eighth consecutive month in October, falling to 2.06 trillion yuan ($325 billion), a decline of 9 percent year-on-year. Exports decreased by 3.6 percent to 1.23 trillion yuan while imports plunged by 16 percent to 833 billion yuan.
As the world's second-largest economy and a top global trading power, the performance of China's trade sector does deserve close attention from policymakers at home and abroad. But do such disappointing import statistics represent a serious setback for China's transition toward consumption-led growth?
