A minor slowdown had been telegraphed in multiple data points. In the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for last month, factory owners’ expectations of export orders had plateaued after months of surging through the summer.

But those expectations were shattered by the strongest monthly export growth since before the pandemic. Exports to major trading partners, including the United States, European Union and Asean, all grew strongly. Meanwhile shipments of medical goods and electronic goods continue to power the Chinese economy.

In September, the import surge had been partly powered by Chinese companies stuffing their inventories of technological components, particularly integrated circuits, as a means of hedging against any future tech bans. Huawei, for instance, was thought to have front-loaded chip purchases ahead of a US ban on foreign companies selling chips containing American parts to the Chinese giant.