China exports regain some strength on US, EU demand

BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters): China's exports and imports returned to slight growth in April as orders to the United States and European Union surged, offering some positive signals for the world's second-largest economy after a weaker-than-expected start to 2014.

Analysts said the trade picture was better in April than Thursday's data suggested, as export figures last year had been inflated by fake invoices before a mid-year crackdown by authorities.

"The external demand side is not such a big problem for China now because the genuine recovery is there," said Wei Yao, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.

"This is actually offering some support to China's growth."

Exports rose 0.9 per cent in April from a year earlier, following falls of 6.6 per cent in March and 18.1 per cent in February, the General Administration of Customs said.

Imports grew 0.8 per cent from a year ago, after an 11.3 per cent fall in March, to produce a trade surplus of $18.5 billion, more than double the $7.7 billion surplus in March.

All three figures bettered the median forecasts in a Reuters poll, with exports and imports defying expectations of another fall.

The pick-up in trade follows a batch of factory surveys for April, after the government unveiled targeted measures to support growth, though both the official and private measures showed export orders had fallen. Last week, Beijing said it would offer quicker tax rebates for exporters and encourage more high-tech equipment and consumer goods imports to support trade.