Another strong beat from export growth

Export growth accelerated to 36.3% y/y in September from 25.0% y/y in August, well above the Bloomberg consensus expectation of 25.7% y/y. UBS's preliminary estimate suggests export level jumped by 6.6% m/m on a seasonally adjusted basis, following the 1.4% m/m increase in August. This quarter-end surge lifted sequential export growth to around 8% in 3Q, at the high end of its historical distribution and broadly similar to 2Q. The largest sequential upswing came from shipments to the EU (up more than 8% m/m) and autos; shipments to the US rose around 4% m/m with y/y growth accelerating to almost 40%, and exports to North Asia expanded sequentially for the 13th consecutive month. Import growth picked up to 31% y/y from 28.2% y/y, with the trade surplus widening to USD134bn;