China’s exports drop for first time since 2016 as demand cools

China’s exports fell last year for the first time since 2016 as global demand weakened, undercutting a strong growth driver for the domestic economy.

China sold $3.38 trillion worth of goods to the rest of the world in 2023, a 4.6% drop from the record a year earlier. Shipments had soared during the pandemic as people stepped up purchases of goods while they worked from home, but demand from Europe, the US and elsewhere then faded as interest rates rose.

That December export data was likely helped by the comparison with the same month last year, when shipments slumped almost 10%, partly due to the effect of Covid-19 running rampant across the country then. Weak import data would add to the case that more policy support is needed to support domestic spending, Bloomberg Economics wrote in a report before the latest data was released.