China Feb trade surplus falls to $8.56 bln

China's trade surplus fell in February to $8.56 billion from $19.5 billion in January and $23.8 billion a year earlier, the customs administration said on Monday.

Exports in February rose 6.5 percent from a year earlier to $87.4 billion, while imports rose 35.1 percent to $78.8 billion, the agency said on its Web site.

It was the fifth month in a row that imports had grown faster than exports.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a surplus of $21.9 billion based on export growth of 19.8 percent and import growth of 25.7 percent.

February's reading reduced China's rolling 12-month trade surplus to $250.6 billion compared with $265.5 billion in January and $262.2 billion in 2007.

Trade, in billions of dollars:

Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May

Exp 87.4 109.7 114.4 117.6 107.7 112.5 111.4 107.7 103.3 94.1

Imp 78.8 90.2 91.7 91.3 80.7 88.6 86.4 83.4 76.4 71.6

Bal 8.6 19.5 22.7 26.3 27.1 23.9 25.0 24.4 26.9 22.5

Export and import growth (yr/yr % change)
Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
Exp 6.5 26.7 21.7 22.8 22.3 22.8 22.7 34.2 27.1 28.7
Imp 35.1 27.6 25.7 25.3 25.5 16.1 20.1 26.9 14.2 19.1