China’s Monthly Trade Surplus Tops $100 Billion

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Record surplus: China’s expectation-beating exports in December helped drive its monthly trade surplus to over $100 billion for the first time. Exports grew 10.7% year-on-year in dollar terms. That’s up from a 6.7% growth rate in the previous month. A Caixin survey showed that economists predicted average export growth of 7.7%. Imports grew 1% year-on-year, after shrinking by nearly 4% in November. The trade surplus for December was $104.8 billion. For the whole year, China’s exports increased 5.9%, while imports rose by 1.1%.