China February exports post record surge from COVID-19-depressed 2020 levels
Exports in dollar terms skyrocketed 154.9% in February compared with a year earlier, while imports gained 17.3%, the most since October 2018. The data did not include figures for January alone.
In the January-February period, exports jumped 60.6% from a year earlier, when lockdowns to contain the pandemic paralysed the country’s economic activity. That exceeded the forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll for a 38.9% surge.
Strong exports, which benefited from China’s success in largely containing the public health crisis, have helped fuel the country’s recovery from a pandemic-induced paralysis.
The surge was driven by a rebound in foreign demand, customs said in a statement on its website, citing improvements in manufacturing industries in the European Union and the United States, and their increased imports of Chinese products thanks to fiscal stimulus measures.
“In addition, a majority of manufacturing employees (in China) chose to stay put over the Lunar New Year holidays,” the statement said. “Our survey showed a lot of firms in export-oriented provinces stayed open, and orders that usually only get delivered after the new year had been delivered normally.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-trade/china-february-exports-post-record-surge-from-covid-19-depressed-2020-levels-idUSKBN2AZ02I
