China imports fall in sign of battered domestic demand

BEIJING, China — China’s imports fell 16 percent in October from a year ago to 833.14 billion yuan ($131.2 billion), official data showed Sunday, underlining battered domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy where downward pressures on economic growth persist.

A key driver of world growth and the planet’s biggest trader in goods, the slowdown in China’s economic expansion has sent jitters across global stock markets and taken a great toll on resource-rich countries for whom the Asian country is a crucial client.

Exports, too, continued their losing streak from July, dropping by 3.6 percent year-on-year in October to $1.23 trillion as foreign demand languished, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs.

The October trade balance rose 40.2% to 393.22 billion yuan, driven by the continued drop in imports, the data showed, suggesting that the Asian giant continues to struggle with improving domestic demand.

The decrease in exports was larger than a median forecast of a 3.2 percent decline in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.