On February 20, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that in January this year the country’s exports of mechanical and electrical products saw a month-on-month rise of 25.1 percent to $105.81 billion. In the same month, China’s imports of mechanical and electrical products witnessed a month-on-month increase of 39.9 percent to $55.09 billion. Meanwhile, China’s import volume of crude oil was up 7.4 percent in January, while iron ore and copper import volumes were down by 11 percent and 29.8 percent respectively, all on month-on-month basis.
In addition, in January the average price of China’s overall product exports was up by 0.7 percent month on month, while the average price of China’s overall product imports continued its downward trend, seeing a month-on-month drop of five percent. In January, China’s import prices of iron ore declined for the 14th consecutive month on month-on-month basis, while import prices of finished steel declined for the 11th consecutive month.