By Kate Yuan

China’s IC import was valued at RMB 1,111.51 billion ($165.83 billion) in the first five months, down by 10.9%, numbering 232.07 billion pieces, according to China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) on June 9.

The import value increased by 7.1% in the first five months over the last year. The IC import accounted for 15.7% of China’s total merchandise imports with the trade deficit expanding by $5.1 billion year on year to $110.63 billion.

GACC’s data also showed that the IC import in May reached 45.99 billion pieces, falling by 8.7% over the previous year, marking the sixth consecutive month. The import value decreased by 2.4%. The trade deficit for the month fell by 12.6% to $19.2 billion. Both the import value and trade deficit decreased for the first time in 27 months.

A JW Insights article earlier this month attributes the possible factors of China’s IC import to consumer electronics market slowdown, overstocking by Chinese OEMs and more use of home-made substitutes . （What does the drop of China’s IC import in January to April tell us?  )

According to previous statistics, the IC import volume in April was 45.76 billion pieces, hitting RMB221.74 billion ($33.08 billion). In contrast, the number of ICs imported in May increased slightly.（校对/WM Zhang）