Shanghai private sector sees signs of recovery in external trade

Private businesses in Shanghai reported export value of 1.43 billion U.S. dollars in March, a growth of 64.8 percent on the previous month, the local customs house said Thursday.

Though the March export value was 2.2 percent below the year-earlier level, the decline rate was 30.1 percentage points lower than the February level.

The local customs house said the recovery was partly driven by sales of garments and shoes. The export growth in clothing was 11.3 percent, and that in shoes was 7.1 percent.

Affected by the global financial crisis, February saw Shanghai's private sector export volume down 32.3 percent year on year to 870 million U.S. dollars. This brought the sector's exports for the first quarter down 10.1 percent year on year to 4.11 billion U.S. dollars. But the decline rate was below the 10.7-percent level for the city's total export value in the three-month period.

Private companies accounted for 13.6 percent of Shanghai's total exports in the first quarter.

Between January and March, private businesses in Shanghai sold 1 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods to the European Union, down 8.9 percent year on year, and 760 million dollars worth to the United States, down 10.8 percent. Exports to Japan rose 14.5 percent to 600 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua