China Trade Surplus Sets Record High as World Reels From Pandemic

China’s trade surplus soared to a record $75.4 billion in November as exports surged 21.1 percent compared with a year ago, highlighting how the global plague that started in China has enriched the Asian behemoth.

China’s exports have soared since Beijing moved to reopen the world’s second-largest economy while much of the industrialized world has staggered under the weight of the pandemic and recently seen economic growth stymied by resurgent infections. The early outbreak of coronavirus in China and its long-term industrial policy to dominate manufacturing proved economically auspicious, allowing China to proper by supplying the world with personal protective gear, work-from-home technology, and many of the goods people have stockpiled during lockdowns.

The surge in exports far exceeded the 12 percent forecast by economists and beat October’s 11.4 percent year-over-year gain. The pace of the growth of imports, what China buys from the rest of the world, declined from October’s 4.7 percent gain to 4.5 percent. Economists had forecast that China’s recent prosperity would increase demand for imports for a 5.3 percent expected gain.