China’s Exports Drop for First Time Since 2016 as Demand Cools

(Bloomberg) — China’s exports posted the first full-year decline since 2016 as global demand faltered and prices fell, hurting a major pillar of growth for the world’s second-biggest economy.

The country sold $3.38 trillion worth of goods to the rest of the world last year, a 4.6% drop from the record a year earlier. Shipments had soared during the pandemic as people stepped up purchases as they worked from home, but demand from Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere faded as interest rates rose.