China's long march to Covid recovery

摘要

China's people and economy felt the impact of Covid-19 weeks and in some cases months before other parts of the world, but Beijing's aggressive handling of the virus meant the country also emerged from lockdown early. So when energy demand was collapsing elsewhere, China was witnessing the start of a commodity demand rebound, fuelled in part by cheap imports. The pandemic cut Chinese GDP by 6.8pc in the frst quarter. Refners' fuel sales shrank by at least 20pc over that period, Beijing estimates, while like-for-like electricity output fell by as much as 7pc. But the economy expanded by 3.2pc in the second quarter as lockdown measures eased. Oil and power demand rallied dramatically, with crude demand rising to a record high, and China's refnery runs exceeded those of the US in the second quarter.