Key industries like cement and chemical fibers have all reported lower utilization rates of their existing production capacity.Īn almost empty street in the Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing on December 13, 2022. Nationwide, truck cargo volumes and delivery orders both shrank in the past week, according to statistics from the transportation ministry and the postal service regulator.įactories have also cut back production. Since the middle of this month, the number of subway trips was down about 60% in major cities from the same period a year ago, according to Wind data. People’s movements have also fallen sharply. In tier-one cities like Beijing and Shanghai, home sales plummeted 53% last week from a year ago. Last week, home sales by floor area plunged 44% in the 30 biggest cities from the same week last year, according to Chinese financial data provider Wind. Auto manufacturers sold 946,000 vehicles from December 1 to December 18, down 15% from the same period last year, according to most recent statistics from the China Passenger Car Association. Brenda Goh/ReutersĬar and home sales slumped in the first few weeks of December.

People walk past closed stores at a shopping mall amid the COVID-19 outbreak, ahead of the Christmas holiday, in Shanghai, China December 23, 2022. Top leaders have signaled recently that they would shift focus back to growth next year and have bet on the relaxation of pandemic restrictions to lift the economy. Retail sales had contracted in November because of widespread lockdowns, and unemployment had surged to the highest level in six months.

The Chinese economy was already struggling when Beijing abruptly pivoted from its stringent zero-Covid policy. “The number of people on the streets has dropped off sharply from already subdued levels across the country,” said analysts from Capital Economics in a research note last week. Factories and companies are also forced to shut down or cut production because of more workers getting sick. The rapid spread of infection has driven many people indoors and emptied shops and restaurants. But several cities and provinces have said they were seeing tens of thousands of new cases per day. Since the world’s second largest economy drastically eased its Covid restrictions earlier this month, there has been no clear data on the extent of the virus’ spread on the national level. China’s economy is under severe strain as a wave of Covid cases sweeps across the country.

China covid spike