(Bloomberg) -- China’s overseas shipments surged in February, a month affected by the Lunar New Year holiday shutdown. Import growth moderated.
Exports rose 44.5 percent in February in dollar terms after rising 11.1 percent the previous month, the customs administration said Thursday. Import growth slowed to 6.3 percent from a revised 36.8 percent in January, to leave a trade surplus of $33.7 billion.
The latest readings come as the annual legislative congress is convening to chart policy for the coming year amid rising trade threats from the Trump administration, with the U.S. president planning to sign orders for new steel and aluminum tariffs Thursday. Premier Li Keqiang on Monday announced a 2018 growth goal of around 6.5 percent, omitting an aim for a faster pace, while pledging to open China’s market further and seek “more balanced development of trade.”
Underscoring the difficulty of reading China’s economic data early in the year, the official factory gauge fell to 50.3 in February for the biggest slump in five years, partly due to a week-long Chinese New Year holiday during which factories and offices closed.
China-U.S. trade tensions are one of the major concerns underpinning more cautious market sentiment, Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, wrote in a recent note. “The direct impact on China, of steel and aluminum tariffs, is negligible, but investors are concerned that it could be the beginning of a broad trade war.”
