China’s Sept exports grow 5.7%, beat forecasts, imports weak

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports grew 5.7% in September from a year earlier, beating expectations, while imports rose 0.3%, missing estimates, customs data showed on Monday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected export growth to cool to 4.1% after a 7.1% gain in August, as global demand continued to weaken amid surging prices and aggressive interest rate rises.

Imports had been forecast to have risen 1.0%, after ticking up only 0.3% in August, with domestic demand still sluggish.

China posted a trade surplus of $84.74 billion in September, versus a forecast for an $81.0 billion surplus in the poll and a $79.39 billion surplus in August.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ellen Zhang; Editing by Kim Coghill)