China’s recovery, a sign of international reactivation. China’s exports and imports have grown again in April after registering a slight decrease in the previous month. The rise in both indicates an improvement in demand for the Asian country, which is fighting to remain the largest global producer in the midst of an economy still weakened by the pandemic and geopolitical shocks.
According to data from the country’s customs authorities, collected by Reuters, Exports grew by 1.5% in April compared to the data for the same month of 2023. This growth contrasts with the contraction experienced by Chinese sales abroad in March, when they fell 7.5% compared to the same period of the previous year, the first drop since November.
Foreign demand growth, however, is mainly driven by the lower comparable base in April. In March 2023, the statistical base is especially high because the country experienced a rebound in its production after going through a wave of infections shortly before.
China recorded its first drop in exports in March since November
“After taking into account changes in export prices and seasonality, we estimate that Export volumes remained virtually unchanged from March”, assured the economist of the Capital Economics consultancy, Huang Zichun.
Exports, which are one of the main engines of the Asian giant, have begun to gain more weight after the fall in domestic demand in the country, which is still facing an unstable economy and has been struggling to cope with a real estate crisis for months.
In April, Imports increased by 8.4%, compared to the 1.9% they registered in March. The growth of the country’s purchases far exceeded the estimated 4.8%, reflecting an improvement in domestic demand and the first results of the country’s government’s financial policy.
The Chinese executive announced in March that it planned intensify its support for the country’s economy through “stable monetary policies and proactive fiscal policies”. The government’s objective for 2024 is to increase its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 5% throughout the year, compared to the 4.6% estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In the first quarter of the year, both imports and exports increased by 1.5% year-on-yeardriven especially by data from January and February, when the country’s economy began to show its first symptoms of recovery.
