China
Did China Beat Germany in Exports Last Year?
China’s exports rose 17.7% in December according to state media. This suggests that China has overatken Germany as the world’s largest exporter.
From a BBC report:
“Xinhua said total exports for 2009 were $1.2tn (£749bn), but total foreign trade over the year was down 13.9%.”
Germany’s full year export data will be published in February. So it is not yet confirmed that China was the world’s largest exporter in 2009.
Germany’s exports fell in November 2009 relative to November 2008. According to the Federal Statistics Office:
“Germany exported commodities to the value of Euro 73.7 billion and imported commodities to the value of Euro 56.3 billion in November 2009. Hence, German exports decreased by 3.1% and imports by 14.8% in November 2009 against November 2008.”
China’s Economy is Growing Much Faster than Japan’s
The chart below shows the comparison of economic growth between China and Japan since 1980:
Source: Euromonitor
Japan’s GDP gre faster from 1980 thru 1900 and then rose slowly from early 90s thru 1998. However since 1980 China’s GDP is growing at a higher rate consistently year after year. Between 2000 and last year China’s economic growth easily beat Japan’s growth. However the GDP per capita is still much higher for Japan than China. China’s GDP per capita has come a long way since the 80s to reach over $5,000.
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China’s Aged Population is Rising
China’s total population is 1.3 billion as of July last year. The one-child policy has reduced the population growth but China’s population is ageing rapidly. By 2020, the proportion of people aged 65+ is projected to rise to 13.1% of population. In 1978 it was just 4.5% and last year it stood at 9.4%. By 2020, the aged population will account for almost 1/4th of the global aged population.
China’s Population Shift from 1978 to 2008 in Millions
People aged 65+ is growing in Asia. Japan has the most most aged people in the world with 22.7% of the total population in 2009.
Aged Population in the Asia-Pacific
Source: Euromonitor
What is the effect of ageing population in China?
Older people tend to get sick often. Hence there is an increase in consumer spending on health care expenditures which includes both state health care expenditures and private spending. For example in China, health care expenditures grew from $45.9 B in 2003 to $123.0B in 2008.
Western companies that sell health-care equipments and technology to China offer good investment opportunities.
Top 10 Export Markets and Import Sources of China
China is increasingly looking to emerging markets for economic growth opportunities. As the countries in the West stagnate emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America have become more strategically important for China.
In 2008, China’s import sources were mostly from Asia. The Top 10 Import Sources for China in 2008 are listed below:
From Jan thru October last year, the top five import sources were Japan, EU, ASEAN, Korea and Taiwan. USA came in at number 6. Japan is the largest import source country for China.
The Top 10 Export Markets in 2008 were:
Source: MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, PRC
The EU, USA, Hong Kong, ASEAN and Japan were the five largest export destinations for Japanese goods. The US and EU accounted for about 40% of Chinese exports market.
The Top Oil Suppliers of China
The price of oil rose above $81 on October 23 due to the expectation that the global economy is in the early stages of recovery and also due to the weakness of the US dollar.
One of the major consumers of oil in the world is China. As China’s economy expands due to many infrastructure projects China needs more oil. Rising sales of cars also adds to the demand for oil. In recent months China is strengthening its trade ties with oil-rich countries such as Venezuela, Iran,etc.
The major suppliers of oil to China are shown below:
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Saudi Arabia the largest supplier of oil to China at 750,000 barrels per day. Iran comes second followed by Angola. The US is asking some middle-eastern countries to lift their sanctions on oil exports to China in order to weaken the sales of Iranian oil to China. The US wants China to be less dependent on Iran for oil. Iranian influence is growing in Asia due to its oil exports.
