China: Import growth slows significantly in December – Nomura

Analysts at Nomura note that December trade data showed that China’s export growth in USD terms slowed to 10.9% y-o-y from 12.3% in November (Consensus: 10.8%; Nomura: 6.0%), and in CNY terms to 7.4% y-oy from 10.3% in November.

Key Quotes

“Import growth in USD terms slowed significantly to 4.5% y-o-y in December from 17.7% in November (Consensus: 15.1%; Nomura: 8.0%), and in CNY terms to 0.9% y-o-y from 10.3%. The resulting trade surplus widened to USD54.7bn from a revised USD39.0bn in November. Ordinary imports and process imports both slowed significantly, suggesting both investment growth and consumption growth slowed in December.”

“We maintain our view that export and import growth will moderate gradually in 2018 from the strong rebound in 2017.”