China's imports plunges 12th month in a row

China's import dropped again in October for the 12^th consecutive time, according to official data revealed Sunday.

BBC News reported that China's imports on October went down 18.8 percent to $130.8 billion. This is a small improvement to the 20.4 percent drop in September. Meanwhile, exports also declined by 6.9 percent to $192.41 billion. This is the fourth month in a row that exports have fallen.

This led to a $61.6 billion trade surplus, which is the highest the world's second largest economy has ever been. This suggests that China is still struggling to improve domestic demand. According to the Malaysian Insider article, some of the major reasons for the country's economic meltdown are its slow property market, its manufacturing sector's overcapacity, and slow spending on infrastructure. The economic slowdown ultimately led to slow demand in commodities such as iron and coal, which are needed in the heavy industry. 

CFO Innovation has reported that China's Commerce Ministry reported Thursday that the country's increasing labor and land costs for the past several years contributed to the weakening of the competitiveness of China's exporters. As China is set on posting its slowest yearly growth, the figures are pointing to more weakening.3

"Liu Li-gang, an economist at ANZ bank, said: "Soft domestic demand and the decline in commodity prices continued to weigh on China's import growth," ANZ bank economist Liu Li-gang said, "Looking ahead, China's export sector will continue to face significant headwinds."

Chinese President Xi Jinping just last week warned policy makers that they should expect slower economic growth that the 7 percent goal. He said that the annual economic growth will not be lower than 6.5 percent in the following five years is the country plans to double its 2010 gross domestic product by 2020. China's economic growth went down 6.9 percent in the third quarter, which is the weakest it has been since the global financial crisis.