China’s imports tumble as demand skids, trade war heats up

BEIJING: China’s imports unexpectedly shrank over the January to February period, while exports lost momentum, as escalating tariff pressures from the United States cast a shadow over the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

The first two months of the year saw the opening salvo of a renewed US-China trade war, with US President Donald Trump imposing an extra 10 per cent levy on Chinese goods, arguing Beijing had not done enough to stem the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl.

That called time on exporters’ efforts to front-load shipments ahead of the curbs while production also slowed as Chinese workers downed tools for the Lunar New Year festival.

Analysts say the slump in imports signals Beijing has begun scaling back purchases of key commodities, as it prepares for four more years of gruelling trade tensions with the second Trump administration.

“The drop in imports is seen across grains, iron ore and crude oil, and could be related to China’s own consideration of building strategic reserves,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“China may have imported too many of them in 2024, and needs to scale back the purchase volume,” he added. “This is certainly true for iron ore, as steel production clearly exceeds what is needed by the economy.”

Export momentum had up until now been a bright spot for an economy otherwise struggling with weak household and business confidence caused by a prolonged property market debt crisis.

Imports fell 8.4 per cent year-on-year, customs data showed on Friday (Mar 7), missing the 1 per cent growth forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and a 1 per cent uptick in December.

Exports from the largest manufacturing nation rose just 2.3 per cent over the same period, missing expectations for a 5 per cent increase and slowing from December’s 10.7 per cent gain.