April trade surplus exceeds expectations

China's April trade surplus of US$10.46 billion was down from the US$11.2 billion surplus in March, but still exceeded the US$7.2 billion expected as economic growth shows no signs of slowing in the face of continued fixed-asset investment and easy credit. In April imports rose 15.3% from a year earlier to US$66.49 billion, while exports climbed 23.9% to US$76.95 billion. In the January-April period, China's imports rose 22.1% to US$240.48 billion, and exports rose 25.8% to US$274.23 billion. The surplus is expected to lead to further monetary tightening, following the 0.27 percentage point increase in the one-year yuan lending rate in April.