China’s Import, Export Plunge

Export shrank 9.9 percent year-on-year in December, the most since February 2020, customs data showed. Export had contracted 8.7 percent in November.

Imports fell 7.5 percent, compared with a 10.6 percent decline in November.

China’s economy is still recovering from the fallout of three years of ultra-strict “zero-COVID” restrictions, which disrupted businesses and kept millions of Chinese consumers at home during long stretches of the pandemic.

Exports had been one of the few bright spots for the Chinese economy during the pandemic but deteriorated rapidly during the latter part of 2022 as consumers overseas slashed spending in response to central banks’ aggressive interest rate hikes to tame inflation.

China’s commerce ministry said that slowing external demand and the rising risks of a global recession are posing the biggest pressures to the country’s trade stabilisation.

But the ministry said major exporting provinces have reported seeing some improvement in getting new orders.

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