China Nov exports gain 5.4% y-o-y, imports up 3%, far below forecasts

[BEIJING] China's November dollar-denominated exports rose 5.4 per cent from a year earlier, while imports expanded 3.0 per cent, both far below analysts' expectations, official data showed on Saturday.

That left the country with a trade surplus of US$44.74 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected November shipments from the world's largest exporter to have risen 10.0 per cent. Exports surged 15.6 per cent in October.

Imports were expected to have climbed 14.5 per cent, after rising 21.4 per cent in October.

Analysts were expecting China's trade surplus to have held steady in November at US$34 billion from US$34.02 billion in October.

With the export outlook clouded by US tariffs and China's economy expanding at the weakest pace since the global financial crisis, policymakers in Beijing have recently turned their focus to growth-boosting measures, including increasing export tax rebates and pledging more support to private firms.

In Argentina last weekend, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce that delayed the planned Jan 1 US hike of tariffs to 25 per cent from 10 per cent on US$200 billion of Chinese goods while they negotiate a trade deal.

REUTERS