DM Monitoring
LONDON: China’s exports and imports are both expected to see robust momentum in the coming months amid strong global and domestic economic recovery, British think tank Oxford Economics said in a report released Friday.
“We expect export momentum to remain robust in the coming months,” said the report, adding that a strong global economic recovery would underpin China’s exports through 2021, despite the likely retreat of pandemic-related demand later this year.
Apart from exports, the British think tank also said that “we think import momentum should pick up in the coming months due to the ongoing domestic recovery.”
“We expect robust sequential economic growth will resume after temporary weakness in Q1 (the first quarter) and are optimistic about exports and manufacturing investment,” said the think tank, noting that consumption should “gain pace again as consumers become more comfortable with public health conditions and their economic situation.”
The report came as China’s official data showed earlier in the day that the country’s total imports and exports of goods surged 28.5 percent year on year to 11.62 trillion yuan (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of 2021.
This marks a surge of 21.8 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.
Exports jumped 33.8 percent from a year earlier while imports climbed 22.7 percent in yuan terms, the official data revealed.
Meanwhile, China’s booming domestic tourism also fueled the consumption as the country has effectively contained the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination rate is increasing steadily. During the latest five-day May Day holiday, which ended on Wednesday, China recorded a total of 230 million domestic tourist trips during the holiday, up 119.7 percent from last year, according to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
