60 percent more than in the previous year: China's exports surprise analysts

Sunday, March 7th, 2021

60 percent more than in the previous year
China's exports surprise analysts

China's foreign trade grew in the first two months of the year – and much faster than experts had predicted. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the country's economy has apparently recovered even more splendidly than previously thought.

China's exports increased significantly in January and February. The exports of the world's second largest economy increased by 60.6 percent compared to the previous year, according to current customs data. Experts had only expected an increase in exports of 38.9 percent, after an export increase of 18.1 percent in December.

The Chinese exporters benefit from the fact that they manufacture many goods that are in demand worldwide in the corona pandemic – such as medical equipment such as masks or laptops and screens for working at home. Imports also rose faster than forecast in January and February, by 22.2 percent year-on-year. Analysts had expected a plus of 15 percent.

The trade surplus for the two months was $ 103.25 billion. It was expected to decline to $ 60 billion from $ 78.17 billion in December. Experts attribute the unusually strong growth mainly to the low comparison basis in January and February of last year, when China took strict control measures after the outbreak of the corona virus in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan. The strong foreign trade figures also demonstrate how much China's economy has recovered since then.

Chinese Customs began to merge January and February export data since 2020 to compensate for any bias caused by the Lunar New Year holidays. In the Corona year 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the People's Republic jumped out at least a plus of 2.3 percent. China was the only major economy that achieved growth at all. Despite the rosy economic outlook, China's leadership is heading for a rather modest growth target of over six percent this year.