The US trade deficit narrowed 9.7 per cent in January to its smallest since October 2002, as both imports and exports tumbled for the sixth consecutive month in the face of shrinking global demand, a US governmentreport showed today.
The monthly trade gap totaled $36 billion, below a Wall Street consensus estimate of $38 billion. The deficit has now narrowed for a record six consecutive months, the longest previous run being from April through August 2007.
US exports of goods and services fell 5.7 per cent from December to the lowest since September 2006 and imports tumbled 6.7 per cent to lowest since March 2005.
Total world trade is expected to fall this year for the first time since 1982 as businesses and consumers cut back on spending in response to a weakening global economy and international financial crisis.
Earlier this week, China reported that its exports plunged 25.7 per cent in February from a year earlier while imports declined 24.1 per cent.
On a year-to-year basis, US exports were down 16.4 per cent in January while imports were 22.8 per cent lower, the Commerce report showed. The monthly trade deficit has narrowed 39.1 per cent over the same period.
In a sign of the bleak conditions facing the world's automakers, both US imports and exports of autos and auto parts were the lowest since July 1998.
US exports of food, feeds and beverages were slightly higher in January, but other major categories such as consumer goods, capital goods and industrial supplies and material all declined.
On the import side, all major categories were lower with another drop in monthly oil prices to $39.81 per barrel cutting the value of US crude oil imports to $11.9 billion, the lowest since February 2005.
The bilateral US trade deficit with China swelled 3.5 per cent in January as US exports to China fell much faster than US imports from that country.
Reuters