China April exports make a surprise jump in April yet imports tumble
China’s exports bounced back in April, beating forecasts and suggesting that an expected demand shock from coronavirus containment efforts around the world will come further down the line.
April exports rose by 3.5 per cent from a year earlier, reversing the 6.6 percent fall in Marchand much better than the combined minus 17.2 per cent collapse in January and February.
April’s return was much better than the expectations of a Bloomberg poll of analysts, which had predicted an 11 per cent shrinkage from a year ago.
But imports fell by 14.2 per cent from a year earlier, worse than Bloomberg’s poll, the median forecast of which was minus 10 per cent. April’s imports were also well below March’s reading of minus 0.9 per cent, and January-February’s minus 4 per cent.
That means China’s trade balance was US$45.34 billion in April, up from US$19.9 billion in March.
