BEIJING, March 10 (Reuters) - China's exports jumped 45.7 percent in February from a year earlier, following a 21.0 percent rise in January, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.
Imports surged 44.7 percent from a year earlier, easing from record growth of 85.5 percent in January, partly due to the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The trade surplus last month was $7.6 billion, compared with $14.2 billion in January.
Economists had expected an $8.0 billion surplus based on a 38.7 percent rise in exports and a 39.7 percent rise in imports from year-earlier levels. [ID:nTOE62308R]
On a month-on-month basis, China's exports fell 13.7 percent in February from January, and imports fell 8.9 percent.
After calendar adjustments for the number of working days, exports rose 59.1 percent in February from a year earlier but fell 2.2 percent from January.
On the same basis, imports last month rose 74.7 percent from February 2009 and rose 6.3 percent from January, Customs said.
Trade, in billions of dollars:
Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July Exp 94.5 109.5 130.7 113.7 115.9 103.7 105.4 95.4 Imp 86.9 95.3 112.3 94.6 103.0 88.0 94.8 87.2 Bal 7.6 14.2 18.4 19.1 12.9 15.7 10.6 8.2
Export and import growth (yr/yr % change):
Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Exp +45.7 +21.0 +17.7 -1.2 -13.8 -15.2 -23.4 -23.0 Imp +44.7 +85.5 +55.9 +26.7 -6.4 -3.5 -17.0 -14.9
Rolling 12-month surplus, in billions of dollars:
Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Bal 174.0 171.2 196.1 218.5 239.5 250.7 267.1 280.1 (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Aileen Wang; Editing by Alan Wheatley)