China Exports Continue To Expand In December

China's exports continued to log robust growth in December taking the overall trade surplus for 2021 to a record high, data from the General Administration of Customs revealed on Friday.

Exports grew 20.9 percent on a yearly basis in December after rising 22.0 percent in November. The annual growth was forecast to slow to 20.0 percent.

At the same time, annual growth in imports eased more sharply to 19.5 percent from 31.7 percent in the previous month. The expected rate was 26.3 percent.

Consequently, the trade surplus rose to $94.46 billion in December from $71.7 billion in November, and remained above the expected level of $74.5 billion.

There is limited scope for a rise in exports volumes this year given that ports are already stretched to capacity, Julian Evans-Pritchard and Sheana Yue, economists at Capital Economics, said.

Further ahead, the bigger problem for exports is that foreign demand is likely to drop back as shifts in global consumption patterns due to the pandemic unwind and backlogs of orders are gradually cleared, the economists noted.

Regarding the outlook for imports, the economists said although policy easing will drive a rebound in home sales, constraints on developer financing mean that slowing property construction is likely to continue to weigh on China's commodity imports for some time.

For the full year of 2021, exports logged an annual growth of 29.9 percent and imports advanced 30.1 percent. As a result, the trade surplus rose to a record $676 billion, data showed.