China’s exports and imports plummeted in November to levels not seen since early 2020, amid sanitary restrictions that have hit the economy, according to official figures released Wednesday.
Faced last month with its biggest wave of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic -although the numbers are still tiny compared to its population-, the Asian country has continued with its strict health policy.
This consists of almost daily screening of the population, mandatory quarantines for people who test positive, or even lockdowns as soon as the cases appear.
These measures have logically taken over household consumption, supply chains and business demand.
As a result, exports fell 8.7% in a year, according to Chinese Customs. This is the strongest drop since February 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, when China was practically paralyzed.
Relaxation of sanitary regulations
The threat of recession in the United States and Europe, combined with rising energy prices, has also weakened demand for Chinese products.
However, these figures must be put into perspective with respect to the medium-term outlook, because China seems in recent days to be heading towards a change in doctrine around Covid-19, with a gradual relaxation of certain restrictions.
China announced this Wednesday a general relaxation of health regulations against Covid, authorizing home quarantine of certain positive cases and reducing the use of widespread PCR tests.
According to the new instructions revealed by the National Health Commission (CNS) -which has the value of a ministry-, “asymptomatic infected people and mild cases that can be isolated in their homes will generally be isolated” and the country “will further reduce the scope of nucleic acid testing and reduce its frequency.
In November, imports fell 10.6% year-on-year. This is the strongest collapse since May 2020.
Since the massive demonstrations at the end of November by the Chinese people tired of the excesses of this Covid zero health strategy, several cities have announced the end of mandatory large-scale PCR tests or quarantine for infected people.
But travel between provinces remains difficult and the economic recovery could take time to materialize, the relaxation of anti-Covid rules remains uncertain for the moment.
Source: BFM TV
