Cargo Business Newswire

Monday, January 13, 2014

China to surpass U.S. as world's largest goods trader

China is poised to best the U.S. as the globe's top trading country, according to the country's official trading data, released Friday.

Beijing customs reported that the nation's total trade reached $4.2 trillion in 2013, topping $4 trillion for the first time. Overall, imports were up 8.3 percent year-over-year. Exports rose 4.3 percent, a pace that is typically distorted by fake invoices filed to avoid capital controls.

For the full year, exports increased 7.9 percent to $2.21 trillion and imports rose 7.3 percent to $1.95 trillion, the customs administration said.

Although the U.S. has not yet posted its trade numbers for December 2013, China will almost certainly assume the top ranking.

2013 U.S. imports and exports totaled $3.5 trillion through November, according to the Department of Commerce, and to retain the top trader title, December trade would have to come in at more than double the average monthly performance.

"This is a milestone for the development of our national trading services," said Zheng Yuesheng, a Chinese Customs Administration official, at a press conference.

It's hard to gauge how big an edge China actually has on the U.S., since China's trade data is notoriously unreliable. Fake invoices inflated 2013 export gains by about 2 percentage points, according to Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

For more of the Bloomberg story: businessweek.com