China's trade surplus exceeds expectations

China’s dollar-denominated trade surplus exceeded market expectations due to the greater-than-expected decline in imports. According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, trade in the January-February period yielded a surplus of $116.88 billion. The market expectation was for a surplus of $84.0 billion. During the same period, exports fell by 6.8 percent and imports by 10.2 percent. Market expectations were for declines of 9.0 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. While yuan-denominated exports increased by 0.9 percent, imports fell by 2.9 percent. Thus, the trade surplus came to 810.3 billion yuan.