Beijing: China's exports rose 7 percent in May due to a spike in global demand after weak performances in earlier months, while an unexpected fall in imports signalled a weakening of demand in the world's second-largest economy, data showed Sunday.
The surprising decline in demand in the domestic market indicated that securing the trade target remains a struggle for the world's largest exporter, which is under pressure from the US and others to allow its yuan currency to rise in value.
Exports accelerated 7 percent to USD 195.47 billion in May from an year earlier, while imports dipped 1.6 percent to USD 159.55 billion, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.
In May, total foreign trade volume increased by 3 percent to USD 355 billion, it said.
Exports picked up in May following a 0.9 percent jump in April and sharp falls in March and February, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The GAC data showed that the amount of major bulk items China imported in the first five months was on a rise, except for crude oil and some less important commodities.
"The decline in imports may be the result of lower prices of these commodities," Liu Xuezhi, an analyst with the Bank of Communications told the news agency.
Trade balance realised a sharp surplus of USD 35.92 billion in May - from USD 20.4 billion a year ago - expanding by 74.9 percent over the same month last year.
The combined foreign trade volume in the first five months saw a year-on-year growth of 0.2 percent to USD 1.68 trillion, according to the GAC data.
During the Jan-May period, exports decreased by 0.4 percent but imports went up 0.8 percent.
The trade surplus stood at USD 71.3 billion.
The figures were released amid a report released by the World Bank that the Chinese economy will grow at 7.6 percent this year, a notch lower than last year's 7.7 percent.
China's growth will moderate over the medium term as the economy continues to rebalance gradually, a World Bank update released two days ago said.
Growth is expected to slow to 7.6 percent in 2014, and 7.5 percent in 2015, from 7.7 percent in 2013, it said.
The International Monetary Fund last week cut its economic growth forecast for China because of concerns about the property market and a build-up in credit.
Chinese premier Li Keqiang on Friday had warned officials not to overlook economic challenges, saying downward pressure on the economy was "relatively high."
Today's trade data showed that China's trade with major partners continued to rise from January to May.
Its trade with the European Union, the US, the ASEAN and Japan rose by 11.7 percent, 5.1 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
China set a trade growth target of 7.5 percent this year, lower than the 8-percent goal for 2013 and last year's actual expansion of 7.6 percent.
Zhang Ji, an official at Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said last month that achieving the trade target was "an arduous task" as downward pressure is weighing on the country's economy.
To address the problem, China's State Council announced a guideline in May to secure stable growth of foreign trade.
After that, the GAC among other authorities unveiled a string of pro-trade measures.
China is under pressure from the US and other countries to allow its yuan currency to rise in value.
Chinese exporters worry that persistent yuan strength hurts their sales by making their products expensive overseas.
