China's exports and imports rose marginally in April, official data showed on Thursday, rebounding from sharp declines the month before amid a growth slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
A ship passes containers stacked up at the Yangshan Deep-water Port in Shanghai, on November 29, 2013
Exports crept up 0.9 percent year-on-year to $188.54 billion, the General Administration of Customs announced, while imports increased 0.8 percent to $170.09 billion, resulting in a surplus of $18.45 billion.
The figures come a month after Customs reported that China's trade volumes fell dramatically in March, which analysts blamed on the continued impact of fake reporting of exports seen in early 2013.
In March imports slumped 11.3 percent year-on-year to $162.4 billion while exports fell 6.6 percent to $170.1 billion, for a trade surplus of $7.7 billion.
China had recorded an unexpected trade deficit of almost $23 billion in February, which authorities blamed on the Lunar New Year holiday season. That result was China's first monthly deficit in 11 months.
China's economy grew 7.4 percent in the first three months of 2014, weaker than the 7.7 percent in October-December last year and the worst since a similar 7.4 percent expansion in the third quarter of 2012.
Concerns over China's growth outlook have increased this year after a series of weaker-than-expected statistics, though trade distortions have partially clouded the situation.
"China's trade data show signs of recovery but continue to understate the true health of the export sector," Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics in Singapore, wrote in a reaction to the April figures.
"April's low export growth was, as in previous months, largely caused by rampant over-invoicing of trade to avoid capital flows last year, which has created an artificially strong base for comparison," he added.
But the distortions seemed set to fade as Chinese officials appear to have taken steps to deal with over-invoicing about this time last year, he added.
Slowing property activity suppressing commodity imports meant the outlook for import growth was "relatively weak", he said.
"China is likely to continue to post large trade surpluses this year."
The trade figures come after mixed readings on Chinese manufacturing.
A private purchasing managers index (PMI) survey released Monday by British bank HSBC showed the sector contracted for a fourth consecutive month in April. In contrast, last week the government's official PMI remained in marginal expansion.
China's leadership says it wants to make private demand the key driver for the country's economic growth, moving away from over-reliance on huge and often wasteful investment projects that have girded decades of expansion.
Such a transformation is expected to result in growth that is slower but seen as stable and more sustainable in the long run. China in March set its annual growth target for this year at about 7.5 percent, the same as last year.
But officials, including Premier Li Keqiang, have been quick to stress that the target is flexible -- seen as a hint it may not be achieved.