Trade surplus widens by less than expected in October

China’s trade surplus expanded in October but came in lower than expected due to falling imports and exports, The Wall Street Journal reported. The surplus rose to US$17.03 billion, up from US$14.51 billion in September but less than US$25.8 billion indicated by Dow Jones’ survey of economists. Exports fell 7.2% from September levels while imports fell 9.5%. On a year-on-year basis, the pace of export growth slowed from September levels while the rate of import growth accelerated. “China’s export growth will continue to slow, and the trade-surplus growth will stay on a declining trend,” said Cui Li, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland. Li added that the declining trade surplus may encourage further appreciation of the renminbi. Yao Wei, an economist at Societe Generale, expects China’s overall surplus for 2011 to be US$160 billion, down 12% from 2010.