Ind Goods & Services - Yoy export growth picked up in Aug 21

■   China headline export growth in US$ terms rose 25.6% yoy in Aug, rising from 19.3% yoy in Jul, higher than market expectations.    

■   In the key segments we track, the yoy growth rate of sectors such as home appliances, garments, PCs and textiles picked up in Aug 21 but smartphone exports weakened.  

■   The yoy growth in imports also picked up to 33.1% yoy in Aug 21, compared to 28.1% yoy in Jul 21. IC imports remained resilient, growing 21.5% yoy, up from 21.0% yoy in Jul 21. There was also an improvement in the yoy growth of volume imports of some commodities in Aug 21 vs. Jul 21, and some of them reported a mom increase in volume imports in Aug 21.

■   The Aug 21 trade figures were a somewhat positive surprise to the market, in our view. The slowdown in yoy export growth seemed to be a common consensus. The Covid-19 Delta variant in the region may boost China exports. We believe that China’s grain imports may be the focus in the coming months.   

■   This analysis is based on industry and macro figures and may differ from the views of individual analysts, in some cases.