source from：WSJ website
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China’s Exports Tumble Amid Broad Slowdown
Economy keeps losing momentum; imports also continued to drop

By MARK MAGNIER
Updated March 8, 2016 12:43 a.m. ET
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BEIJING—China’s exports registered their biggest drop in more than five years as weak global demand continues to undercut growth momentum in the world’s second-largest economy.


China’s customs administration reported Tuesday that exports fell 25.4% in dollar terms year-over-year last month, compared with a drop of 11.2% in January. Though last month’s long Lunar New Year holiday contributed to the decline, the figure was much worse than a median forecast for a 15% slide by 17economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.


Imports also declined, falling 13.8% last month, the agency reported, compared with an 18.8% drop in January, in a further cooling of demand in China that is affecting its Asian neighbors. China’s trade surplus narrowed in February to $32.59 billion from $63.29billion in January, falling short of the median forecast of a $51.25 billion surplus.


The worse-than-expected performance for the world’s biggest trading nation reinforces other economic indicators that have portrayed the economy as weakening and signals further difficulties ahead, economists said.


“Growth momentum turned weaker again in the first quarter,” said Nomura Group economist Yang Zhao. “We’re going to see strong headwinds to growth this year.”


China has started out the year on a weak footing after growth slowed to 6.9% last year, its weakest pace in a quarter century.


The Shanghai Composite Index fell by nearly 3% in early trading before recovering half that ground later Tuesday morning.


China’s latest export figures follow a call by senior officials from the Group of 20 major economies in Shanghai last month for coordinated efforts to spur global growth. At the meeting, Beijing pledged to avoid a significant depreciation in its currency to spur exports.


The poor export showing dovetails with trade results from other major exporters in the region. Last month, Taiwan’s exports fell for the 13th straight month—the island’s longest export slump since the global financial crisis—while South Korean exports declined for the 14th consecutive month. China’s February results were the weakest since May 2009, when exports fell 26.4%.


Sun Sandy, sales manager at Yancheng ShunYu Agricultural Machinery Co. in the eastern city of Yancheng, said the global environment has made it tougher to export the firm’s tractor parts to Europe, the U.S., Africa and Southeast Asia.


“Exports aren’t doing well right now,” she said. “We’re really hoping for some sort of breakout.”

At Saturday’s opening of the national legislature’s annual session, which lasts through mid-March, Premier Li Keqiang pledged to promote exports, speed up payment of tax rebates for exporters and otherwise improve conditions for a part of the economy that once powered China’s growth but is now struggling.


Imports have been keenly watched by economists looking for evidence of capital flight cloaked as legitimate trade deals. Trade with Hong Kong has drawn particular scrutiny. In January, Chinese customs figures show China’s imports from Hong Kong increased 108%; Hong Kong data, however, show exports to China fell 7.9%.


Though their accounting differs, the figures should roughly match, and economists have said the discrepancy suggests that companies are inflating invoices to circumvent China’s capital controls. In February, China recorded an 88.7% rise in imports from Hong Kong. Hong Kong has yet to release February trade data.


Unlike in recent years, China didn’t issue a foreign trade target this year, a reflection of the diminished importance of exports and Beijing’s growing difficulty hitting the numbers after four years of falling short. Last year, China’s combined imports and exports declined by 8%, a 14-percentage-point gap with its target for 6% growth.


Ms. Sun, the agricultural equipment saleswoman, said she doesn’t expect many of the trade promotion policies coming out of Beijing to benefit relatively small exporters like her company, which had sales of less than $1 million last year. Proposed changes she said her company would benefit from are faster export rebates and streamlined customs inspections.


“The sooner, the better,” Ms. Sun said. “Some of these reviews are really a waste of time and money.”


—Grace Zhu and Liyan Qi contributed to this article.