China Trade Surplus: Amidst the imposition of high tariffs by America, China has crossed its trade surplus of 1 trillion dollars for the first time in November. The main reason for this is that American manufacturers started exporting their products to the markets of Europe, Australia and South-East Asian countries instead of sending their products to America due to high import duties. At the same time, China’s exports to America have reduced to about one-third compared to a year ago.

China’s trade increased

According to Customs Department data released on Monday, China’s total exports in November increased by 5.9 percent on an annual basis. In the same month, China’s trade surplus increased to $111.68 billion, which is the highest since June and has also crossed October’s record of $90.7 billion. Due to this, China’s trade surplus went above 1 trillion dollars for the first time in the last 11 months.

According to Jichun Huang, China Economist of Capital Economics, despite the agreement between the US and China on tariffs, there was no significant improvement in China’s shipments to the US. Experts believe that China’s exports will remain similarly strong in the coming year also. After Trump’s election in 2024, China adopted a strategy to expand its exports to diverse markets, including increasing trade with Southeast Asia and the European Union.

How is China’s trade surplus?

This directly benefited Chinese companies, who strengthened their hold in global markets with low tariffs. At the same time, China’s exports to America decreased by 29 percent in November, while exports to European Union increased by 14.8 percent, to Australia by 35.8 percent and to South Asian countries by 8.2 percent.

This report has come at a time when after the meeting of President Trump and President Xi Jinping in South Korea on October 30, there were positive signals regarding the tariff agreement between the two countries.

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Russian Crude Oil Purchase: India’s crude oil imports from Russia strengthened in the first fortnight of October, ending the three-month decline from July to September. According to the data related to the movement of ships, Indian refineries are working at full capacity to meet the festive demand, due to which there has been an improvement in imports.

Arrival increased after three months

India’s crude oil imports from Russia had declined from 20 lakh barrels per day (BPD) in June to 16 lakh BPD in September. However, preliminary figures for October indicate improvement. There has been a surge in supplies of Ural and other Russian grades of oil to India, supported by reduced demand in western markets and new discounts.

According to preliminary data from global trade analysis company ‘Kepler’, India’s oil imports in October stood at about 18 lakh barrels per day, which is about 2.5 lakh BPD more than the previous month. However, the company says that the figures for the current month may be revised.

India’s clarification on Trump’s statement

These figures are before US President Donald Trump’s statement on October 15, in which he claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop Russian oil imports. However, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal rejected this claim and said that he was not aware of any such conversation. He said that Russian oil is an important part of India’s energy system.

Kepler’s Chief Research Analyst (Refining and Modeling) Sumit Ritolia says that Trump’s statement appears to be a business pressure tactic rather than any policy change. He said that Russian oil has an important place in India’s energy system for economic, contractual and strategic reasons. Indian refineries have also clarified that no instructions have been received from the government to stop importing Russian oil.

Russian oil imports increased after Ukraine war

Following the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, India had significantly increased oil imports from Russia. Due to Western sanctions and decline in European demand, Russian oil is becoming available at huge discounts, which has benefited energy importing countries like India.

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