China's exporters succumbed yesterday to the full force of the global economic turmoil. Even after the horror show of economic statistics published round the globe in recent months, China's exports numbers in February painted a grim picture.
Some analysts had been expecting a modest uptick, given that there were fewer working days in February last year because of holidays. Instead, exports slumped by 25.7 per cent.
“It was really just a question of time,” said Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Beijing University. “Given the figures coming out of other Asian countries, China's recent export numbers were not sustainable.” Chinese exports have fallen every month since November but until yesterday they had dropped at a slower pace than elsewhere in Asia.