Chinese full-year trade surprlus shrinks for first time since 2011

Chinese trade was weaker than expected in December - a result which some economists labelled "concerning" - leading to the first shrinkage in the full-year surprlus since 2011.

Asia´s largest economy saw net exports fall from $44.2bn in November to $40.8bn in December.

In US dollar terms, exports declined by 6.1% year-on-year following a drop of 1.6% in the month before (consensus: -4.0%), with November´s print having been revised lower from an initial reading of +0.1%.

Imports on the other hand rose by 3.1%, which was nevertheless also down from the 4.7% clip recorded in November.

According to Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, shipments to developed economies "held up well" last month while those to emerging markets slowed.

"Looking ahead, it’s hard to see conditions becoming much more favourable to Chinese trade than they already are. Further upside to economic activity, both in China and abroad, is probably now limited given declines in trend growth. Instead, the risks to trade lie to the downside – the likelihood of a damaging trade spat between China and the US has risen in recent weeks following Trump’s appointment of hardliners to lead US trade policy, " Evans-Pritchard said.

On a brighter note, various economists pointed out how exports had fared better when measured in yuan terms, as a direct consequence of the yuan´s depreciation versus the greenback.

When measured in local currency terms exports were 0.6% higher year-on-year (consensus: -0.1%).

Negative base-effects had also played a role in the magnitude of the drop seen in exports, given how sales overseas had strengthened in December 2015, Evans-Pritchard said.