China exports post record surge as global demand recovers

China's exports jumped 60.6 percent for the January-February period from a year earlier and imports increased 22.2 percent, faster than expected, after factories reopened and global demand started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Multiple overseas media outlets reported these figures, citing customs data released in March.

Exports rose to $468.9 billion, accelerating from December's 18.1 percent gain and nearly double the growth expected by forecasters, the Associated Press reported. Imports jumped 22.2 percent to $365.6 billion, up from December's 6.5 percent increase.

Strong exports, which benefited from China's success in largely containing the public health crisis, have helped fuel the country's recovery from a pandemic-induced paralysis, Reuters commented, adding China's economy expanded 2.3 percent last year, helped by solid demand for Chinese-made goods such as medical and work-from-home equipment.

Bloomberg noted China's Jan-Feb data shows exports continued to benefit from soaring global demand for medical equipment and work-from-home devices, which has helped to underpin China's V-shaped recovery from the pandemic since the second half of the year.

"Excluding distortions from base effects, trade growth was still quite solid," Nomura Holdings Inc. economists led by Ting Lu wrote in a note to Bloomberg.

The 60.6 percent jump in the January-February period from a year earlier, released by the General Administration of Customs, significantly outpaced the 40 percent increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. 

China's resilient export sector was a key pillar of the overall recovery in the world's second-largest economy, the WSJ commented, concurring with the other outlets.