China’s export growth tumbled last month as global demand weakened, adding to pressure on the world’s second-largest economy, after Shanghai and other industrial cities were shut down to fight COVID-19 outbreaks.
Exports rose 3.7 percent over a year earlier to US$273.6 billion, down sharply from March’s 15.7 percent growth, customs data showed yesterday.
Reflecting weak Chinese demand, imports crept up 0.7 percent to US$222.5 billion, in line with the previous month’s growth below 1 percent.
Photo: AFP
Demand for Chinese exports is under pressure from high inflation and interest rate hikes in the US and other major markets, and consumer uncertainty about the economic outlook and job prospects.
Companies and investors worry that the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s “zero COVID-19” strategy that temporarily closed most businesses in Shanghai and other industrial centers will disrupt global trade and activity in automobiles, electronics and other industries.
“Virus disruptions continued to take a toll but the main headwind to exports is weakening foreign demand,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics wrote in a report. “We expect export volumes to fall further over the coming quarters.”
Exports to the US rose 9.5 percent to US$46 billion despite lingering tariff hikes in a fight over Beijing’s technology ambitions. Imports of US goods advanced 0.9 percent to US$13.8 billion.
China’s global trade surplus widened by 19.4 percent to US$51.1 billion, while the politically volatile surplus with the US contracted by 65 percent to US$9.8 billion.
China’s case numbers in its latest outbreaks are relatively low, but Beijing’s insistence on isolating every infected person kept most of Shanghai’s 25 million people confined to their homes. Access to Guangzhou, a manufacturing and trading center in the south, and industrial center Changchun in the northeast were suspended.
Authorities have eased controls on Shanghai and allowed millions of people out of their homes, but restrictions have tightened in Beijing and some other cities.
Managers of the Port of Shanghai, the world’s busiest, say it is functioning normally, but figures they cite for daily cargo volume it handles are down 30 percent from normal.
Shippers say they are avoiding the port out of concern there are not enough truck drivers available to carry their goods.
Vehicle factories and other manufacturers that tried to keep operating by having staff live at their facilities were forced to reduce or stop production because supplies of components were disrupted.
Consumer demand for imports has been depressed by an official campaign to cut debt in China’s vast real-estate industry, which supports millions of jobs.
That triggered an economic slowdown in the second half of last year.
Exports to the 27-nation EU rose 8 percent to US$43.1 billion, while imports of European goods gained 12.5 percent to US$23.4 billion. China’s trade surplus with Europe widened by 49.6 percent to US$19.6 billion.
Imports from Russia, a major gas supplier, soared 56.6 percent over a year earlier to US$8.9 billion, possibly reflecting the surge in global energy prices due to jitters over supply disruptions caused by Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Beijing has criticized trade and financial sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US, Europe and Japan, but Chinese companies appear to be abiding by them while trying to guard against possible losses in dealings with Russia.
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