The 14.8 percent increase in overseas shipments was the first since September, according to the General Administration of Customs, and will boost hopes for a lasting recovery.
However, Chinese customs figures contradicted Bloomberg’s expectations, with exports declining by 7.1 percent.
Imports contracted in March by 1.4 percent, a more moderate pace than in January and February.
Thursday’s figures also showed that China’s trade with the United States on an annual basis fell by 17.4 percent, and fell by 10 percent with the European Union.
But there was a sharp 25.9 percent increase in trade with Russia, as Moscow focuses on business with its giant neighbor after being hit by sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
China’s economy grew by just 3 percent in 2022 – one of its slowest rates in decades – and the country has set a modest target of “around five percent” for this year.
And there is optimism that the target can be reached, as the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday maintained its forecast for annual growth for China at 5.2 percent.
In its newly released World Economic Outlook report, the fund said: “As the waves of COVID-19 (in China) receded in January this year, traffic returned to normal, and high-frequency economic indicators, such as retail sales and travel bookings, began to recover.”
“The reopening and growth of its (China’s) economy is likely to lead to positive indirect repercussions, with larger repercussions for countries with stronger trade relations with China and more dependent on Chinese tourism,” the fund added.
Top Chinese leaders have also indicated a focus on recovery, with new Premier Li Qiang last month telling a major economic forum that the country is showing “strong momentum”.
Rebound after canceling zero covid
Beijing has long maintained some of the world’s strictest restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus, continuing sudden lockdowns and prolonged quarantines despite their increasingly dire economic consequences. But the government suddenly decided to get rid of these restrictions in December.
The sharp rise was a “positive surprise,” said Qiu Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Associates Management.
However, he added that the sharp recovery “may be partial,” noting that the COVID-19 outbreak in March last year forced many Chinese factories to close and restrict operations at the country’s ports.
“Another factor behind the strong export growth may be the inventory and demand cycles of exporters,” Zhang told AFP.
He added that while the avalanche of Covid cases in December and January “likely depleted factory stocks”, they were now operating at full capacity and had “absorbed order backlogs from the past”.
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