It was a 40 percent surge in imports. That is not a minor surge. Additionally, one has to look at the imports such as pork from their purchase of "Smithfield Farms." China may own Smithfield, but, it is still imports.
China is changing and not in minor ways. I would be surprised if March does not show a significant import market in China as well.
June 2013
By Dominic Barton
The explosive growth of China’s emerging middle class (click here) has brought sweeping economic change and social transformation—and it’s not over yet. By 2022, our research suggests, more than 75 percent of China’s urban consumers will earn 60,000 to 229,000 renminbi ($9,000 to $34,000) a year....
I find it a little disheartening and flat out wrong that a more detailed analysis of the imports does not appear in any financial paper. China is suppose to be a guarantee in stability. That is nonsense.
China's economy is highly dynamic with a burgeoning income demographic that is new, exciting and good for the country. Better incomes for the Chinese means they want choices. Those choices can come in the form of imports.
China is becoming a country where human rights violations do not dominate the criticism of the leadership. We have waited for this for China and to ignore the particular facts and analysis of the choices made by the Chinese people is simply an insult.
They are people, not simply exploited workers that The West can take advantage of. The financial markets need to grow up, they don't have control and that is good for the people of any country. China is not catering to Wall Street, it is growing a better country and Wall Street is lost in the fog.
March 7, 2017
China’s imports surged in February (click here) from a year earlier with the nation posting a rare trade deficit as exports slipped. Analysts said seasonal factors mostly explain the swings.
Key Points
- Imports soared 38.1 percent in U.S. dollar terms, almost double economist projections
- Exports dropped 1.3 percent versus estimated 14 percent increase in Bloomberg survey.
- Trade deficit was $9.15 billion, the first negative reading in three years. That compared with projections for a $27 billion surplus
Big Picture
Economists said the results were skewed by the week-long Lunar New Year holidays that shutter factories and ports across the nation. The holiday occurred in February 2016 versus late January this year, distorting base year comparisons. Taking January and February data together, the imports figures suggest resilient domestic demand while exports are getting a boost from an improving global outlook....
