shiyan china sales of yizhuan automobile cos trash trucks picked up after china ended antivirus controls in december but their growth is in low gear as managers struggle to rebuild business lost during the pandemicchinas economy rebounded at the start of 2023 but after a good first quarter factory output and consumer spending are weakening an official survey in april found a record 1 in 5 young workers in cities were unemployedyizhuans sales are up only by singledigit percentages from last years depressed level according to its deputy general manager yu xiongli the 300employee company is in hubei province where the first coronavirus cases were detected in late 2019it is still in the process of recovering yu said growth is quite slowchinas economic growth accelerated to 45 over a year earlier in the three months ending in march from the previous quarters 29 but forecasters say the peak of that recovery might already be pastgrowth would need to pick up further to reach the ruling communist partys target of around 5 for the yearfor now the ongoing momentum seems not that promising said ubs economist zhang ningthe economy needs a domestic demand rebound with government support to boost confidence for businesses and consumers zhang saidthe end of restrictions that isolated cities for weeks at a time and blocked most international travel prompted hopes for a consumer boom but retail sales are weak shoppers are uneasy about the economic outlook and possible job losses and are reluctant to commit to big purchasesretail sales in april surged 184 over last years lackluster level but that was barely half the growth of up to 35 called for by private sector forecasts factory output fell 05 compared with march and investment growth slowedi have misgivings about spending money said xue liang who works in information technology in beijing covid19 and changes in the international situation have made us worry a lotmanufacturing contracted faster in may according to a survey by the national statistics agency and an industry group new orders and export orders declinedexports in may tumbled 75 from a year ago after global consumer demand was depressed by interest rate hikes by the federal reserve and central banks in europe and asia to cool inflation exports to the united states plunged 182that is a challenge for automakers and other manufacturers that are trying to make up for weak demand at home by selling more abroadtenglong automobile co which makes electric buses in the southwestern city of xiangyang sent salespeople to russia south korea and southeast asia as soon as travel controls ended to try to revive orders after a threeyear gaplast year our foreign customers basically didnt come said tenglongs deputy general manager zhou shengming but this year we already have had several batches in may we had threeyizhuan in shiyan which also sells sanitation cargo and dump trucks to city governments and construction companies says it exports vehicles worth about 20 million a year to russia and southeast asiali yichun who runs