The Chinese rebound story took another blow over the weekend as trade data for April came in weak. Exports fell -1.8% versus flat expected and imports fell -10.9% versus -5% expected. The trade surplus jumped to $45.56 billion:
In terms of commodity volumes:
- oil imports were 32.58 million tonnes (mt) vs 32.61 mt in March
- aluminum 400kt vs 420kt in March
- copper imports 450kt vs 570kt in March
- iron ore imports 83.92 (a new monthly record) vs 85.8mt
- steel exports 9.08mt vs 9.98mt in March
