The resilience of Chinese exports during the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

China was at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. As a consequence, the value of Chinese exports plummeted by 13% year-on-year at the first quarter of 2020 (-40% y-o-y in February alone). However, it was not until March when other countries started to impose more or less severe restrictions on economic activity and movement of people. The year-on-year drop in exports was historically bad both for the United States and the euro area in April and May, while Japanese export growth was at its lowest in June.