Wind turbine blades await export at a factory in Nantong in eastern China on March 2, 2021. (AFP)
China’s export growth jumped to its highest in more than two decades, official data showed Sunday, with imports surging after a strong rebound from the coronavirus outbreak that nearly brought activity to a halt.
Exports of electronics and textiles, such as masks, contributed to the spike in outbound shipments as the demand for home office work and protective equipment against the virus outbreak during the pandemic soared.
Exports rose 60.6 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, above analyst expectations and boosted by the shipment of electronics and masks, while imports were up 22.2 percent, official data shows.
The latest customs figures contrast sharply with last year’s decline of about 17 percent in exports and 4 percent in imports.
The country struggled early on to stem the spread of Covid-19, with consumers staying at home and companies seeing a slow return to their operations.
The comparison with last year has probably also strengthened the latest figures.
China’s total trade surplus was $ 103.3 billion, customs said.
Chinese authorities started combining trade data from January and February last year as it battled the coronavirus outbreak.
This is in line with how some other indicators are being released to smooth out distortions from the Chinese New Year holiday, which can fall in either month.
On Sunday, official data showed that electronics exports were up 54.1 percent, while textiles including masks were up 50.2 percent.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV contributors and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)