BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) - China's exports in December fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier to $111.16 billion, while imports fell 21.3 percent to $72.18 billion, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Citing a person familiar with the data, the agency said China had a trade surplus last month of $38.98 billion, just below November's record of $40.1 billion.
The customs agency is due to report the trade figures on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters have forecast a surplus of $35.0 billion based on a 4.0 percent drop in exports and a 20.0 percent fall in imports. [ID:nPEK14540]
If the report is confirmed, it would mark the second consecutive monthly decline in both exports and imports. In November, they fell by 2.2 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively, from year-earlier levels.
For all of 2008, China chalked up a record trade surplus of $295.46 billion, up from $262.2 billion in 2007, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
That was on the basis of a 17.2 percent rise in exports to $1.43 trillion and an 18.5 percent increase in imports to $1.13 trillion, the news agency said. (Reporting by Alan Wheatley; editing by Ken Wills)