China exports see huge drop

BEIJING: China's exports plunged 25.7 per cent in February from a year earlier, the customs bureau said on Wednesday, in a worrying sign of the depth of the global slowdown that took markets by surprise.

The world's third-largest economy last month posted exports of 64.9 billion dollars, the customs bureau said on its website.

"This is clearly worse than expected," said Robert Subbaraman, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Nomura International.

"We were looking for a rise (in exports) of 1.2 per cent. The market consensus was looking for a rise of one per cent."

Imports last month dropped 24.1 per cent to 60.1 billion dollars, according to the customs bureau.

China's trade surplus in February stood at 4.84 billion dollars, the customs bureau said, a massive drop from 39.1 billion dollars the previous month.

It was down by nearly half compared with last year's February trade surplus, which was 8.56 billion dollars, according to earlier customs figures.