China trade surplus beats expectations

China's trade surplus jumped to $42.9bn in April, outstripping expectations as exports continued to rise, official figures showed.

The surplus rose from $13.8bn in March and was well ahead of analysts' consensus estimate of $27.7bn.

Export growth rose to 32.3% year on year from 30.6% in March, beating expectations for 24.1% growth. Import growth increased to 43.1% from 38.1% in March and was close to the consensus forecast of 44%.

The recovery of the US economy and India's Covid-19 crisis supported export growth as the US bought more Chinese goods and some orders shifted to China from India, analysts said. But Freya Beamish, chief Asia economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the level of exports was not sustainable.

"Overall, the pace of export rises has softened in the last couple of months, but the day of reckoning is yet to come," Beamish said. "Chinese exports are way above sustainable levels compared with foreign demand, even factoring in the ongoing rebound abroad."