China's economic health flagged as August imports sink

Shanghai

CHINA'S imports tumbled in August, raising concerns about the health of the world's second-largest economy and its contribution to global growth.

The data will add to the pressure on Beijing policymakers trying to ensure the country's economy avoids a hard landing, though they will take some comfort that their efforts to steady the country's stock markets were rewarded with a late rally on Tuesday.

Imports dived 13.8 per cent from a year earlier, far more than analysts had forecast, and registered a 10th …