(Peoples Daily Online)14:10, March 11, 2021
Chinas foreign trade will maintain its momentum of fast growth this year, analysts predicted.
The countrys imports and exports surged 32.2 percent year on year in the first two months of 2021, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on March 7. Notably, exports skyrocketed 50.1 percent year on year and in February alone, exports soared 139.5 percent from a year earlier.
Photo shows Nansha Terminal of Guangzhou Port in south Chinas Guangdong province. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
Chinas exports will be further boosted by the global economic rebound and robust demand from the overseas market.
Wang Tao, head of Asia Economic Research with UBS Investment Bank, said that the global economy is expected to rebound significantly this year as global COVID-19 cases look set to decrease sharply from the second quarter due to high vaccination coverage. This, he said, will help spur Chinas exports.
Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist with Ping An Securities, also believed that Chinese exports would continue to expand this year thanks to the rising demand for Chinese products from overseas markets.
Zhong forecast that the consumer demand in the U.S., spurred by massive fiscal stimulus and increasing real estate investment in the country, would lead to a higher demand for Chinese products, giving a strong boost to Chinese exports in the next one or two quarters. Meanwhile, higher COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Europe is expected to fuel Chinas exports gradually in the next two or three quarters, Zhong added.
Chinas imports will be further facilitated by its accelerated economic recovery, which will help expand the countrys domestic market.
Last year, China was the only major economy in the world to show positive growth. Many economists believe that the Chinese economy may continue to outperform other countries this year and grow by more than 8 percent, and the robust economic recovery is expected to help expand imports.
According to the latest annual government work report, China will continue to provide policy support to beef up foreign trade growth. The country has rolled out a series of policies and measures to stabilize its foreign trade, including increasing credit supply to support small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises and expanding the coverage of export credit insurance.