Indo-China trade drops by 3.5%*

In sharp contrast to the surge in Indo-China trade last year, which touched a historic high of US$ 95.54 billion, the bilateral trade between the two countries has declined by 3.6% YoY to US$ 36.87 billion during January-May’19. This decline has dented the optimism that the total trade volume may cross the US$ 100 billion benchmark in 2019. As per the latest data released by Chinese customs, however, there was also a YoY rise in trade deficit in China’s favour from US$51.72 billion in 2017 to US$ 57.86 billion in 2018.

India’s exports to China in May 2019 stood at US$ 1.52 billion, dropping by 7.15%, while Chinese exports have declined by 4.54%, standing at US$ 6.66 billion. Consequently, the bilateral trade in May’19 dropped by a significant 5.04% YoY, amounting to US$ 8.18 billion. Major merchandise items in India’s export basketduring January-May 2019 were* organic chemicals (23.56%), cotton (50.73%), plastics (25.48%), fish and crustaceans (394.97%), electrical machinery (33.54%), Iron and steel (39.12%)  and coffee, tea, mate and spices (654.22%), according to the official data.

 

*Figures in brackets indicate YoY growth rates