China's June trade falls in new sign the economy may be fading

AP TELEVISION Beijing - 10 July 2013 1. Wide of news conference by General Administration of Customs 2. Cutaway of reporters 3. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for China's General Administration of Customs: "In June, China's imports and exports totalled 2 trillion Yuan, a two percent year-on-year decline. Exports decreased by 3.1 percent to 1.09 trillion Yuan. Imports fell by 0.7 percent, with a figure of 0.91 trillion Yuan." FILE: Tianjin - 27 February 2012 4. Wide of cargo ship in port 5. Mid of trucks loading containers to cargo ship 6. Close up of trucks loading containers to cargo ship 7. Wide of trucks in port being loaded in cargo ships 8. Close up of container being loaded in ship 9. Wide of cargo ship Beijing - 10 July 2013 10. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for China's General Administration of Customs: "For the second quarter this year, the growth rate in China's trade figures has clearly slowed down, especially for May and June, the overall import and export figures do not look very optimistic. I think this is due to many factors, but we can say that our country's foreign trade is currently facing a difficult challenge." FILE: Tianjin - 27 February 2012 11. Mid of containers being loaded in port 12. Close up of containers being loaded in port 13. Mid of containers in port Beijing - 10 July 2013 14. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for China's General Administration of Customs: "The reduction of demand on the part of external markets has directly caused a reduction in the number of orders received by our exporting companies. Export growth is at a low point. Among the nearly two thousand exporting companies that we surveyed this year, more than 40 percent of the companies reported that the number of new orders has been decreasing compared to the same period last year. According to the survey conducted at the end of June, 69.2 percent of companies have reported that the number of new orders has decreased compared to the same period last year." 15. Cutaway of journalists 16. Wide of news conference ending STORYLINE: China's trade declined abruptly in June, an apparent sign that growth in the world's second largest economy might be cooling even more sharply than expected. Exports fell by 3.1 percent compared with a year earlier, and imports contracted by 0.7 percent, customs data showed on Wednesday. Both were below forecasts of growth in the low single digits. China's economic growth has slowed this year and is expected to fall further due to weak global demand and an effort by the Chinese central bank to cool a credit boom. The country's leaders claim that they want to pursue slower, more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption, reducing reliance on trade and investment. According to Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for China's General Administration of Customs, what is affecting growth in exports is the decrease in demand from external markets. "Export growth is at a low point. Among the nearly two thousand exporting companies that we surveyed this year, more than 40 percent of the companies reported that the number of new orders has been decreasing compared to the same period last year. According to the survey conducted at the end of June, 69.2 percent of companies have reported that the number of new orders has decreased compared to the same period last year." A decline in Chinese economic activity could have global repercussions, denting revenues for suppliers of commodities and industrial components such as Australia, Brazil and Southeast Asia. Lower Chinese demand already has depressed global prices for iron ore, copper and other raw materials, cooling an economic boom for exporters. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7b93d417317db99730ee8b7045eddf0f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork