BEIJING: Debt strains in the euro zone will take a toll on Chinese exports in the coming months, the Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday.
Exports surged 48.5 percent in May from a year earlier, the government reported on Thursday, sending a reassuring signal to markets about the vigour of global demand.
But the ministry said it typically takes Chinese companies two months or so to fulfil orders, so May’s shipments reflected orders booked before Europe’s debt mess deepened.
The euro zone and the International Monetary Fund had to bail Greece out in April after it was unable to roll over its debts in the bond market, raising fears about the financial health of other big borrowers and triggering a plunge in the euro.
“In the next few months the negative impact from Europe’s debt crisis on Chinese exports may gradually show up,” the ministry said in a statement distributed at a monthly news conference.
Yao Jian, a spokesman for the ministry, told the conference that export growth would slow from July onwards.
“In the next two to three months, we will keep a close eye on changes in European markets, especially in Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain, and take some measures,” Yao said. He did not specify what steps China would take and when.
But Yao did say that China might cut export tax rebates for energy-intensive products, thus penalising the manufacture of such goods, in a bid to reach its goals for cleaner growth.
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