| Warm winter a factor in China's trade surplus in Jan.-Feb. period |
GUANGZHOU, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese business analysts and industrial experts on Tuesday cited warm winter as a factor in China's huge foreign trade surplus in the January-February period, in response to renewed calls from abroad for a revaluation of the Chinese yuan.
"The warm winter in the northern hemisphere allowed our company to export summer garments to western countries ahead of schedule, which gave us a windfall at the beginning of the year," said Yang Hao, board chairman of Yangfan Garment Co. Ltd based in Xinji Cityin north China's Hebei Province.
Yang was in Guangzhou for the Chinese Import and Export Commodities Fair, the country's largest trade exhibition, which runs April 15 to 30.
Media reports said Europe had its warmest winter in 127 years. Analysts said the warm winter had particularly affected China's exports of textiles and garments.
"The warm winter induced Chinese businesses to export summer garments early. Usually the garments are exported in the second quarter," Cao Xinyu, vice chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
"That is the reason for the massive spike in China's exports of textiles and garments in the first two months and also a key reason for the huge surplus in foreign trade," he said.
Another industry affected by the warm winter was air-conditioning equipment.
South China's Guangdong Province, whose exports of air-conditioners account for more than half the nation's total, exported about 3.845 million air-conditioners valued at 570 million U.S. dollars, up 14 and 21 percent, respectively, year-on-year.
Statistics from Chinese Customs show that the trade surplus in the textiles and garments industry reached 21.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of the year, with exports hitting 24 billion U.S. dollars, up 40 percent. February was a bonanza month, with textile and garment exports growing more than 72 percent year on year.
Statistics show that China achieved a trade surplus of 39.6 billion U.S. dollars in the January-February period, 14.3 billion more than last year, with exports standing at 168.7 billion and imports at 129.1 billion U.S. dollars.
The United States and some western nations have complained about the huge surplus and again asked the Chinese government to speed up the appreciation of the Chinese currency, which increased by 0.96 percent against the dollar in the first quarter.
The United States has for some time claimed that an under valued yuan is the main reason for China's trade surplus.
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