I tweeted the headline earlier (actually a retweet of @ChrisWeston_IG). Just positng some of the article details.

From Bloomberg:

China’s trade numbers, distorted by fake exports last year, are set to come under renewed scrutiny after a discrepancy between Hong Kong and Chinese figures for bilateral trade widened to the largest in eight months.

  • Hong Kong’s December imports from China fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier to $22.7 billion, the city’s statistics department said yesterday
  • Compares with $38.5 billion in exports to Hong Kong reported earlier this month by China’s customs administration
  • Economists split on how to interpret the latest numbers, which follow reports earlier last year that invoices for fake exports were used to disguise capital inflows, inflating China’s trade data before regulators in May cracked down on the practice.

“From the last few months’ data, we have seen hints that some Chinese exports are fake and in fact that reflects hot money inflows,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. The discrepancy will abate as yuan appreciation slows in January and February, said Zhang, who previously worked at the International Monetary Fund.

Exaggerated overseas shipments would mean that global demand is weaker than China’s statistics indicate and would be a negative input to the AUD.

More at the link