China’s March exports grow despite virus; imports flat
BEIJING, China (AP) — China’s exports rose 15.7 per cent over a year ago in March while imports were flat amid disruptions due to coronavirus outbreaks as the ruling Communist Party enforces a “zero-COVID” strategy to isolate every case.
Exports rose to US$276.1 billion despite antivirus controls in Shanghai and other industrial hubs that are causing factories to reduce production, customs data showed Wednesday. Imports rose less than one per cent to US$228.7 billion.
China’s infection numbers are relatively low, but the “zero-COVID” strategy has confined most of Shanghai’s 25 million people to their homes since late March and suspended access to other manufacturing regions.
The antivirus curbs are adding to concerns over global trade disruptions that persist from the pandemic. Chinese officials say they are taking steps to keep ports functioning, but automakers and other factories have cut production due to problems with supplies.
Local outbreaks have “caused great pressure on production and operation of some enterprises and the stability of the supply chain,” said a customs official, Li Kuiwen, at a news conference. Li said the customs agency “makes every effort to coordinate ports well.”
An economic slowdown triggered by an official campaign to cut debt in China’s vast real estate industry, meanwhile, has sapped consumer demand. Economic growth slid to four per cent over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021, down from the full year’s 8.1 per cent.
Exports to the United States rose 22.4 per cent over a year earlier to US$47.3 billion in March despite lingering tariff hikes in a feud over Beijing’s technology ambitions. Imports of American goods rose 11.5 per cent to US$15.2 billion.
That meant the politically volatile trade surplus with the United States widened by half over a year earlier to US$32.1 billion. That imbalance was one of the factors that prompted then-President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on Chinese goods in 2019.
With almost no growth in imports, China’s global trade surplus more than doubled to US$47.4 billion.
Imports from Russia, a major gas supplier, fell 26.4 per cent from a year earlier to US$7.8 billion. Exports to Russia edged down 7.7 per cent to US$3.8 billion.
Beijing has criticised trade and financial sanctions imposed on Moscow by the United States, Europe and Japan over its invasion of Ukraine. But Chinese companies appear to be abiding by them while trying to guard against possible losses in dealings with Russia.
Trade and manufacturing appear likely to suffer a bigger impact this month due to the shutdown of most businesses in Shanghai and suspension of access to Guangzhou, a manufacturing and trade centre in the south, and to industrial centers of Changchun and Jilin in the north-east.
Managers of the port of Shanghai, the world’s busiest, say its operations are normal. But the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China has said its member companies estimate the volume of cargo handled by the port every day is down 40 per cent.
Exports to the 27-nation European Union fell 9.1 per cent from a year ago to US$44.4 billion while imports tumbled 41.6 per cent to US$24.3 billion. China’s surplus with Europe jumped 179.3 per cent to US$20.1 billion.