A Chinese flag flies on a vessel moving past shipping containers and is unloaded at a Tianjin Port Group Co. dock in Tianjin, China.
Nelson Ching | Bloomberg | Getty Images
China reported on Tuesday that March’s export data missed analysts’ forecasts, while imports for the month rose more than expected.
Chinese exports last month rose 30.6% higher than a year ago in US dollars, behind the 35.5% increase expected by Reuters analysts. Meanwhile, the country’s imports in US dollars rose by 38.1% in March compared to a year ago, exceeding the 23.3% rise predicted by analysts.
The stronger-than-expected rise in imports led to China’s trade surplus shrinking to $ 13.8 billion in March, much closer to the $ 52.05 billion Reuters poll.
Paras Anand, Asia and Pacific’s chief investment officer at Fidelity International, said the latest data showed that China’s economic recovery was a “different phase”.
He revealed on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” that China’s recovery over the past few months from the Covid-19 pandemic has focused on production, as seen in strong export numbers. But demand seems to be on the rise now, he added.
“As we now recover to a more mature level in China, we are starting to see that consumption is also increasing very strongly,” said Anand.
China was the first country to report cases of the coronavirus at the end of 2019. Official data showed that the economy hit its trough in the first quarter of 2020 when the number of infections peaked.
The country appears to have largely contained the outbreak, and last year became the only major economy to record growth when it expanded by 2.3%. China has set a growth target of more than 6% for 2021, while the International Monetary Fund expects the Asian giant to expand by 8.4% this year.