China’s exports continue to fall in October despite weaker yuan By Frank Tang in South China Morning Post, Nov 8, 2016 P

A weaker yuan exchange rate against the US dollar is not helping China’s export machine – at least not during the past two months.
Although the yuan lost about 1.5 per cent against the greenback in October, shipments of Chinese products to overseas markets dropped 7.3 per cent in dollar terms last month compared with a year earlier, following a fall of 10 per cent in September, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Tuesday.
“The two-straight monthly fall of exports reinforced the impression that foreign demand may be actually worse than expected,” said China Merchants Securities macro analyst Liu Yaxin.
China’s imports dropped 1.4 per cent in October in dollar terms, but rose 3.2 per cent in yuan terms.
“The ongoing cyclical rebound in China’s economy should support imports for another quarter or two, but is unlikely to last much longer given that the boost to growth from earlier policy easing is set to fade before long,” the research consultancy Capital Economics wrote.
The official purchasing manager’s index (PMI) hit a 26-month high of 51.2 last month.
January-October exports fell 7.7 per cent year-on-year to US$1.71 trillion, while imports were down 7.5 per cent to US$1.27 trillion.
Trade surplus widened to US$49.1 billion last month from US$15.2 billion a month earlier, leaving the country with a US$441.6 billion trade surplus in the first 10 months of the year.
The fourth quarter is usually a high export season given the Christmas and New Year orders, but the high comparison base last year weighed heavily on trade figures, the Ministry of Commerce said in a report released last week.
The trade results are part of China’s struggle to stabilise its economy.
Gross domestic product growth has been maintained at 6.7 per cent so far this year. China is due to release monthly investment and consumption data next Monday.http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2043942/chinas-exports-continue-fall-october-despite-weaker-yuan