China's imports grew faster than its exports from January to March, resulting in the first quarterly decline in trade surplus in three years.
The surplus reached $41.4 billion for the first three months of the year, down 10.9 percent year on year, statistics from customs released on Friday showed.
The trend of a shrinking trade surplus may continue for the rest of the year, which will aid the government's efforts to prevent the economy from overheating, analysts said.
The surplus last month rose to $13.4 billion from $8.56 billion in February.
Exports rebounded last month to nearly $109 billion, up 30.6 percent year on year, but analysts said the jump may have resulted from seasonal factors rather than a sign of sustainable growth.
They expect exports to decline in the following months, as a result of the rising yuan and the global economic slowdown.
"The growth rate of exports in February declined due to the Spring Festival and the snowstorms, so it was within our expectations that exports in March saw a major increase," Reuters quoted He Weijiang, an analyst with Central China Securities, as saying.
Analysts also cautioned that the government should prevent a major decline in exports while curbing inflation.
"Many labor-intensive industries have been squeezed, and the trend of declining exports should not be neglected," He said.
Ma Xiuhong, vice-minister of commerce, had said earlier that the increase in trade surplus would slow this year, and the main objective of the country's trade policy was to strike a balance between imports and exports.
Trade with the United States has shown signs of a slowdown, according to statistics. It went up by 10.5 percent to $73.7 billion in the first quarter year on year, with exports to the US rising by 5.4 percent for the same period.
But trade with other partners remained robust. Trade with the EU, China's largest trade partner, went up by 24.7 percent to $93.9 billion year on year for the first quarter.
Source:China Daily
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