YUAN TERMS trade balance out now

China trade balance for July: a surplus of 342.8bn CNY

  • expected CNY 311.85bn, prior was 311.2bn

Exports +2.9% y/y

  • expected +2.3%, prior was +1.3% y/y

Imports -5.7% y/y

  • expected -1.1%, prior was -2.3% y/y

Exports coming in at a beat, while imports a steep drop on the month

For the YTD data, exports are down 1.6% y/y while imports down 4.8% (yuan terms again)

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ADDED - here comes the USD terms....

China trade balance for July: USD52.3bn

  • expected +$47.3bn, prior was +$48.11bn

Exports -4.4% y/y

  • expected -3.5%, prior was -4.8% y/y

Imports -12.5% y/y

  • expected -7.0%, prior was -8.4% y/y

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The weaker yuan is lending support to exports in local currency terms, but you can see the poorer result in USD terms, indicative of the softening of global demand.