China Economic Watch: Trade Surplus Widens on Weaker Imports; Fuel Prices to Be Cut Again

Trade Surplus Widens on Weaker Imports
China's bilateral trade rose 9% from a year earlier to $328.69 billion in June, with the trade surplus widening to $31.73 billion, customs figures show. Exports grew 11.3% year on year to $180.2 billion and imports grew 6.3% to $148.48 billion last month. Imports grew at half the pace economists had expected, underscoring concerns over the Chinese and global economies. In 1H 2012, exports were up 9.2% to $954.38 billion and imports were up 6.7% to $885.46 billion, generating a $68.91 billion trade surplus.

China to Cut Fuel Prices Again
China will lower retail gasoline and diesel prices for the third straight month in an attempt to breathe new life into the slowing economy, said Zhou Wangjun, deputy director of the pricing department at the National Development and Reform Commission. The coming cut is expected by energy consultancy ICIS C1 to be ¥400 for gasoline and ¥380 for diesel per ton. The current retail prices of gasoline and diesel are capped at ¥9,120 and ¥8,310 respectively per ton. The NDRC, China's top economic planner, will adjust fuel prices if a range of international crude prices change over 4% on average in 22 days.

Summer Crop Production to Hit 15-Year High
China's grain output in the summer is expected to reach 130 million tons, up 2.8% from the same period of last year and the highest level since 1997, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Publication Revenues Top ¥1.46t
Revenue from China's publishing industry grew 17.7% to ¥1.46 trillion in 2011, according to the General Administration of Press and Publication. Over 370,000 categories of publications were published last year, up 12.5% from the year before.

$1 = ¥6.32