CHINA’S total trade fell in December but far less than expected, with exports outperforming many of its regional peers.

    “The trade data support our view that, despite turmoil in Chinese financial markets, there has not been a major deterioration in its economy in recent months,” Daniel Martin, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.

    Exports from the world’s largest trading nation fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed yesterday, much less than a Reuters poll forecast for an 8 percent drop and moderating from November’s 6.8 percent decline.

    They also sharply outperformed exports from neighboring regions and countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, analysts noted, and came in the face of entrenched weakness in overseas demand.

    December imports fell 7.6 percent, receding for the 14th straight month but not as sharply as feared, possibly due to factories stocking up on crude oil, iron ore and other materials as global resource and commodity prices continued to fall.

    Indeed, China’s crude oil imports hit a record high while copper imports were the second highest on record.

    Economists had forecast an 11.5 percent import slide, after an 8.7 percent drop in November.

    The combination produced a US$60.09 billion trade surplus for December, compared with economists’ expectations of US$53 billion and November’s US$54.1 billion.

    “Another large trade surplus provides a cushion for the People’s Bank of China in the face of soaring capital outflows,” Capital Economics’ Martin said.

    While Asian stock markets cheered the China data surprise, economists and the customs department said exports will face further pressure in 2016 due to sluggish global demand.

    “Companies tend to have to fulfill their contracts by the year end ... and they’ll increase the amount they’re exporting in December,” customs spokesman Huang Songping said.

    “This doesn’t represent a trend (for 2016). In previous years we’ve seen exports improve in December. The situation in the first quarter still be relatively severe.”

    Some economists also raised concerns that the better-than-expected export data could be partly due to currency speculators using false or exaggerated trade invoices to get capital out of China and evade further declines in the yuan.

    “As both imports and exports to Hong Kong broke with trends in a major way, it suggests the figures are likely driven by capital flight,” Oliver Barron of NSBO said in a research note.

    For the full-year, total trade was US$3.96 trillion, down 8 percent from 2014 and China’s worst performance since the global financial crisis. The government had started the year with a target for 6 percent growth.(SD-Agencies)