CN's April Trade Data With HK & TW Differ Vastly From Those of the Latter 2

choi

(1) Keith Bradsher, 中国经济意外再放缓; 4月进出口数据难逃虚高之嫌. 纽约时报中文网, May 9, 2013
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/business/2013/05/09/c09yuan/

, which is translated from

Keith Bradsher, China’s Economy Unexpectedly Stumbles Again on Weak Export Results. New York Times, May 9, 2013

five consecutive paragraphs:

"The latest sign of trouble came on Wednesday, when China’s General Administration of Customs announced export and import figures for April. On the surface, they looked fairly respectable: exports were up 14.7 percent from a year earlier, and imports were up 16.8 percent.

"But April 2012 [a year ago, namely] was an exceptionally bad month for Chinese exports and imports * * *

"This April’s trade figures appeared even weaker when economists looked closer and found that the export growth had been largely propelled by growth in exports to Hong Kong, up 57 percent, and to special customs zones in China for export later, up even faster.

"Since Hong Kong’s own data has not been showing large increases in imports from China so far this year, the Chinese government has already opened an investigation into whether exporters are overinvoicing for shipments; overstating exports can allow companies to evade currency controls and move money into China to profit from the gradual appreciation of the renminbi against the dollar.

"Louis Kuijs, an economist in the Hong Kong office of the Royal Bank of Scotland, estimated that with the exclusion of overinvoicing, export growth came to only 5.7 percent.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the report.
(b) I always though Chinese governments (Beijing and local governments) falsified data. But this time it is very obvious that Chinese traders are falsifying data. China's April trade data on export to and import from Taiwan deviates even further from Taiwan's own trade data. See next.


(2) Sam Ro, CHART OF THE DAY: It Doesn't Take A Genius To See Something Fishy In China's Trade Data. Business Insider, May 8, 2013.
http://www.businessinsider.com/c ... -discrepancy-2013-5