China’s export growth quickens as easing lockdowns lift demand
BEIJING: China’s exports grew much faster than expected in June, as solid global demand led by easing lockdown measures and vaccination drives worldwide eclipsed virus outbreaks and port delays.
But overall trade growth in the world’s second-biggest economy may slow in the second half of 2021, a customs official warned on Tuesday, partly reflecting the Covid-19 pandemic uncertainties as the Delta virus variant wreaks havoc in some countries.
Overall imports also beat expectations, though the pace of gains eased from May, with the valuesboostedbyhighrawmaterial prices, customs data showed. Thanks to Beijing’s efforts in largely containing the pandemic earlier than its rading partners, the world’s biggest exporter has managed a solid economic revival from the coronavirus-induced slump in the first few months of 2020.
Exports in dollar terms rose 32.2 per cent in June from a year earlier, compared with 27.9 per cent growth in May. The analysts polled by Reuters had forecasted a 23.1 per cent increase.
“Exports surprised on the upside in June, shrugging off the impact of the temporary Shenzhen port closure and other supply chain bottlenecks,” said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics.
“The headline US$ numbers suggest that in real, sequential terms shipments held up in June, after having moderated earlier on from the record levels of end2020.”
China’s trade performance has seen some pressure in recent months, mainly due to a global semiconductor shortage, logistics bottlenecks, and higher raw material and freight costs.
All the same, the global easings in Covid-19 lockdown measures and vaccination drives appeared to underpin a strong uptick in worldwide demand for Chinese goods.
Germany, for example, which was at first sluggish in its vaccination drive, said this month it had caught up with the United States in terms of the proportion of the population having had one shot of Covid-19 vaccine. Close to half of Americans are now fully vaccinated, while elsewhere in Europe the rate has also increased recently.
China’s strong shipment numbers last month underlined some solid factory surveys overseas. A measure of US factory activity climbed to a record high in June, while Euro zone business growth accelerated at its fastest pace in 15 years.