China imports and exports fall again in November — govt

BEIJING, China — Chinese imports and exports both fell again in November, authorities said Tuesday, the latest ambivalent figures from the world’s second-largest economy.

The country is a key driver of global growth and its shipments of finished goods, along with its demand for the resources to manufacture them, affect nations across the world.

China’s exports were down 3.7 percent to 1.25 trillion yuan (around $195 billion) in November, Customs said in a statement.

But the decrease was better than the five percent drop forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists, and smaller than the previous month’s decline.

Overseas shipments have been declining every month this year except for February, when the figures were skewed by the Chinese New Year.

Imports went down 5.6 percent year-on-year to 910 billion yuan in November and the trade surplus stood at 343 billion yuan, Customs said.

Concerns have been mounting among investors worldwide over China’s economy, which expanded 6.9 percent in the July-September period according to official figures — its slowest rate since the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

But those statistics are widely doubted and many analysts believe the real rate of growth could be several percentage points lower.