Just a month after the Chinese trade situation for the third quarter was described as looking "grim", the nation has delivered a much stronger than anticipated performance for July which has sent Australia's major miners climbing over the last two days.
Whilst China's exports fell for the first time in 17 months in June, the market had anticipated a growth of 2.8% (at an annualized rate) for exports in July, however, a much more impressive 5.1% growth was recorded. Likewise, imports soared 10.9% whilst a rate of just 1.3% had been expected.
Analysts have attributed the impressive results to improved liquidity since June as well as stronger exports to the United States, which The Australian Financial Review reported to be a 5.2% jump compared to a 5.4% contraction in June – despite the Chinese yuan sitting at record highs
There is good news for Australian miners such as BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) too, with the data revealing that iron ore deliveries were up 26.5* in July compared to June's mere 6.8%.
Today, BHP, Rio and Fortescue are up 1.8%, 1.4% and 3.95%, respectively.
Foolish takeaway
As it stands, ratings agency Standard & Poor's believes that China will grow between 6.8% and 7.3% for 2014, whilst it gives it just a 5% chance that GDP growth will be as low as 5% for the year.
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More reading
- Rio Tinto's half-year underlying earnings fall 18%
- Mining profits expected to fall
- BHP's profit expected to drop 26%
Motley Fool contributor Ryan Newman does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
