Chinese trade reached record levels last month despite the global shipping crisis

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According to customs statistics released on Tuesday, exports rose 25.6% in August from a year ago to $ 294.3 billion. Imports jumped 33.1% over the same period to $ 236 billion. Both figures were the highest recorded.

Mass growth compares with 2020 figures worsened by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but August figures also exceeded economists ’expectations and were stronger than July gains.

During the first eight months of 2021, exports and imports increased by 34% and 35%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. China’s trade surplus reached $ 362.5 billion, up nearly 30%.

Surprisingly solid trade data “points to the resilience” of the Chinese economy, said Louis Kuijs, head of Asian economics at Oxford Economics.

“While headwinds are maintained in the short term, supply restrictions in China have eased and we believe the global economic recovery will continue to underpin China’s exports by the end of this year and 2022,” he said. write this Tuesday in a research report.

Exports were aided by shipments of electronics and appliances. The United States was China’s main export market: the country bought goods worth a total of $ 51.7 billion in August.

“The bottom line is that China’s trade data continues to act to mitigate the impact of the slowdown in domestic growth,” said Mitul Kotecha, TD Securities ’chief emerging strategist for Asia and Europe.

The Chinese economy has withstood the Covid 19 pandemic stronger than other major economies.

But it faces many challenges. China recently experienced its worst outbreak of coronavirus in a year, encouraging authorities to take dramatic steps to stop new infections, including closing cities, canceling flights and suspending trade.
Supply bottlenecks and tighter credit conditions have also weighed on activity, while strong regulatory crackdown on technology, education and other sectors has shaken investor confidence and wiped out billions of dollars. dollars of market value of Chinese companies.
Recent survey data have pointed to an unstable economy. An official survey of manufacturing activity last month indicated the lowest growth rate since the start of the pandemic, while a private survey showed the first contraction since April 2020. Service industries they also suffered, and the official non-manufacturing survey recorded the first contraction since February 2020.

Trade had also been a major concern. Last month, authorities closed part of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the world’s third-largest container port, for weeks after a dock worker tested positive for Covid. The port handles goods that would fill about 78,000 20-foot containers each day. This raised concerns that it could exacerbate congestion in Chinese ports and add additional disruptions to an already extended supply chain.

But Goldman Sachs economists said Tuesday that Ningbo’s port disruptions appeared to have “a limited impact” on business activities.

It was “likely because blocking restrictions on ports were relatively targeted and the volume of performance was redirected to nearby ports,” they said in a research note.

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