Exchange Rate Pass-through to China's Export Price: A Product-level Investigation

Exchange rate movement usually results in changes in the production costs of exporting firms, and, therefore, the prices and the quantity of traded products. The present paper constructs a theoretical model to demonstrate that export products with higher productivity, or with larger market share, or of higher quality will experience a less complete pass-through. Using the six-digit harmonized system export data from the CEPII database over the period of 2000 to 2013, the present paper examines how product heterogeneity affects the exchange rate pass-through of Chinese exports. The empirical results show that the most competitive Chinese export products, or those least affected by exchange rate risks, are those of higher quality, with higher technological complexity and at the high end of the international value chain. Therefore, Chinese exporting firms should pay more attention to improving export quality and upgrading technology to better cope with exchange rate risks and to enjoy more bargaining power in the international market.