* What: Chinese trade figures for November
* When: Scheduled for Dec. 10 but may be leaked earlier
* Export growth falling sharply due to weakening demand
* Import growth softening as demand, commodity prices fall
BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - China's export growth may have slowed sharply in November, fanning market speculation that top leaders will consider letting the yuan weaken at a policy-setting meeting that began on Monday.
However, the monthly trade surplus probably reached $32.4 billion, second only to October's record high of $35.2 billion, according to the median forecast of 28 economists polled by Reuters.
They projected annual export growth may have fallen to 15 percent in November, from 19.2 percent in October, and said imports may have increased by 12 percent from a year earlier compared with October's 15.6 percent reading.
Although growth of both exports and imports is losing steam as the economy cools, a much higher base for the former is keeping the surplus at giddy heights.
Adding to fears of a slump in Chinese trade, Taiwan reported on Monday that its exports in November fell 23.3 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest decline in seven years. [ID:nTP359712]
A newspaper reported at the weekend that preliminary customs data suggested Chinese exports could have shrunk from the year-earlier level in November for the first time in seven years. [ID:nPEK327699]
Forecasts for November trade (surplus billions of dollars; exports and imports percent change from a year earlier):
Surplus Exports Imports
$ bln pct chg pct
chg
Guosen Securities 35.0 5.0
10.0
Guotai Junan Securities 35.0 18.0
14.0
Bank of East Asia 34.6 16.0
11.5
Guoyuan Securities 34.3 16.3
13.2
Daiwa 34.2 13.4
8.5
Minzu Securities 34.1 16.0
12.0
Industrial Bank 34.0 15.0
9.5
Standard Chartered 33.5 15.0
11.5
CICC 33.1 16.0
13.1
Galaxy Asset Management 33.0 18.6
13.8
HSBC 33.0 15.0
12.0
Deutsche Bank 32.7 15.0
13.0
ING 32.4 14.5
12.0
Merrill Lynch 32.4 13.0
10.0
J.P. Morgan 32.4 13.3
10.6
Action Economics 32.0 12.5
10.0
RBS 32.0 12.0
8.0
Citi 31.2 11.3
9.2
Moody's Economy.com 30.9 14.0
13.0
Bank of Communications 30.8 17.7
13.5
Hang Seng 30.7 17.0
17.0
Nomura 29.8 12.3
12.0
UBS 29.4 12.0
12.0
Straszheim Global Advisors 28.5 ~
~
High Frequency Economics 28.4 21.2
25.0
China Construction Bank 28.0 20.0
23.0
Shanghai Securities 28.0 17.3
20.4
Barclays Capital ~ 14.8
12.8
______________________________________________________________
Median 32.4 15.0 12.0
Previous month 35.2 19.2
15.6
Year earlier 26.3 22.8
25.3
~Not available
> For a poll on all November data, click on [ID:nPEK354175]
> For historical data, double-click on [ID:nSEO282121]
> For the China indicators fixed page, double-click on