<span style="color: #222222;">China's exports plummeted in the first two months of this year on the back of a coronavirus epidemic that forced businesses to suspend operations, disrupting the world's supply chains.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' According to official data released today, exports fell 17.2 per cent, the biggest drop since February 2019 during the trade war with the United States, and imports dropped 4 per cent. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Consumers stayed home during the Lunar New Year break at the end of January and businesses saw a much slower return to work, as the country struggled to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 3,000 people in China alone. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In an early sign of the economic impact to come, China's manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level on record in February, with non-manufacturing activity plummeting as well. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">China's trade surplus with the US was $42 billion last year to $25.4 billion.<br />''<br />''The virus that first emerged in China's Wuhan city in the Hubei province in December last year has spread to 97 countries and has infected over one lakh people, including more than 80,000 in China. </span>