China's exports recovered at a faster-than-expected pace at the start of the year ahead of the protectionist policies that U.S. President Donald Trump could take, deterring shipments of most Asian economies.
Exports climbed 7.9 percent year-on-year in January, reversing December's 6.2 percent fall, data from the General Administration of Customs revealed Friday. Shipments were expected to climb 3.2 percent.
At the same time, annual growth in imports accelerated sharply to 16.7 percent from 3.1 percent and also exceeded the expected expansion of 10 percent.
As a result, the trade surplus increased to $51.35 billion from $40.71 billion a month ago. The surplus was expected to rise to $48.5 billion.
In yuan terms, exports surged 15.9 percent and imports by 25.2 percent annually. Economists had forecast exports to grow 5.2 percent and imports by 15.2 percent.
These figures need to be taken with a pinch of salt as annual shifts in the timing of the Chinese New Year make year-on-year trade growth highly volatile at the start of each year, said Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China economist at Capital Economics.
Nonetheless, the economist said, the big picture is that Chinese trade values have been picking up in recent months thanks to a revival in global manufacturing, the continued strength of China's domestic economy and the rebound in global commodity prices.
Evans expects this improvement to be sustained in the short-run, even as seasonal factors mean that headline trade growth is likely to fall back sharply in February.
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