Last year, the Lunar year was celebrated in January, while this year it is being observed in February.

BBC: China reports better than expected trade data

Because CNY is based on a lunar calendar, it may fall in January or February.

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The LLCD (Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration) launches on LADEE in January of next year and will demonstrate a laser downlink rate of 622 megabytes from the moon.

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March is considered a key month to assess manufacturing activity as data in January and February is skewed by the Lunar New Year Holiday when many factories are shut.

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Combining January and February, thereby smoothing out the impact of the Lunar New Year, exports from South Korea grew 0.6% YoY, marginally better than the 0.4% decline recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

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However, some analysts said that the figures for January were distorted by the change in the timing of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

BBC: China reports better than expected trade data

In addition, the Lunar New Year holiday, which essentially shut down the country for a week in January, was a temporary brake on demand.

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