China fights coal against energy crisis

The value of dollar-denominated exports rose 22.0 percent year on year in November, according to data released by China’s Customs Administration on Tuesday. Analysts expected a significant slowdown in the pace of expansion, forecasting a 19.0 percent increase after a 27.1 percent increase in October.

On the other hand, imports expanded at an accelerated pace last month. The value of dollar-denominated imports rose 31.7 percent year on year in November, well above the 19.8 percent increase analysts had expected. Imports rose 20.6 percent in October.

The acceleration of China’s import growth was driven by the significant expansion of fuel imports. Coal and lignite imports rose more than two hundred percent year on year in November. The value of crude oil imports also rose sharply, by more than eighty percent, despite the decline in the volume of imported crude oil by 7.9 percent in November. The value of natural gas imports increased by 168.98 percent in November, while the volume of imports increased by 16.9 percent.

China’s foreign trade balance closed with a surplus of $71.72 billion in November. Analysts expected a surplus of $82.75 billion after a surplus of $84.54 billion in October. Looking at the first 10 months of the year, Chinese exports grew 31.1 percent and imports 31.4 percent over the same period last year. The foreign trade balance for the January-November period showed a surplus of $581.71 billion.

Based on dollar values, China’s exports to the EU increased by 33.4 percent and its imports by 22.7 percent in the first eleven months of the year compared to the same period last year. From January to November, the total foreign trade volume of China and the European Union reached 747.63 billion dollars. Thus the European Union was China’s second largest external trading partner in the first eleven months of the year after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), pushing the United States back.

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