MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chinese trade “has recovered to pre-crisis levels” affirms Beijing

June trade figures are expected to put more pressure for an appreciation of the Yuan

China’s trade surplus widened to the highest this year and exports climbed more than estimated to a record in June, adding pressure on the government to let the currency gain after the U.S. said the Yuan “remains undervalued.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said July 8 he will “closely” monitor the Yuan’s appreciation after China scrapped a two-year peg to the dollar and allowed a 0.8% advance in the past three weeks. Policy makers in the world’s biggest exporting nation may be reluctant to step up gains as Europe’s debt woes threaten demand even as the bureau said trade has “recovered” to levels before the global financial crisis.

China took a “significant step” last month when it began to allow markets to drive the currency higher, the US Treasury Department said in a report to Congress released July 8, after postponing the release in April. It’s not yet clear whether the policy shift will correct the Yuan’s undervaluation, it said.

Trade “has recovered to pre-crisis levels,” Zheng Yuesheng, head of China’s customs bureau’s statistics department said in an interview on state television Sunday after the release of the data, echoing the views of some economists that the European sovereign-debt crisis has yet to impact overseas sales.

Exports to the US and European Union jumped by more than 40% for the second month, and exports to Russia climbed 84% in June, according to the statement. Shipments to Brazil which more than doubled in April and May surged by 125% last month.

However export tax rebates for a number of goods including some steel products will be removed from July 15, the finance ministry said last month and this could have boosted a rush of exports in June.

Chinese imports climbed to 117.4 billion US dollars in June, the third highest this year, the Customs bureau said.