China Exports Up More Than Expected

BEIJING — China’s exports rose more than expected in August, data showed Sunday, bolstered by improving demand for the country’s goods in major markets.

The Customs Administration said Sunday that exports had risen 7.2 percent in August from the level of a year earlier and that imports had risen 7 percent, leaving the country with a trade surplus of $28.6 billion for the month.

The figures compared with market expectations in a Reuters poll of an increase of 6 percent in exports, an 11.3 percent rise in imports and a trade surplus of $20 billion.

“China’s August trade sustained the upward trend seen since July, in line with accelerating growth momentum and improving market sentiment, pointing to an upside bias” in third quarter growth in gross domestic product, the ANZ economists Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao said in a note after the data appeared.

After slowing in nine of the past 10 quarters, the Chinese economy has shown signs of stabilization, with surprisingly firm rebounds in trade in July and surveys in the past week showing manufacturing regaining momentum and growth in the services sector at a five-month high.

Investors had as recently as a month ago worried that China’s economy was slipping into a deeper-than-expected downturn, especially after its money market suffered an unprecedented cash crunch in June.

But policy makers have stepped in with measures to steady the economy, like quicker railroad investment and public housing construction and introduction of policies to help smaller companies with financing needs.

Attention now turns to other data for August due in the next two days, with investors looking to figures for industrial output, inflation, money supply and investment to further gauge the impact of those measures. G.D.P. data for the third quarter are due in October.

A Reuters poll shows factory output is expected to have grown an annual 9.9 percent in August, matching the January/February figure as the biggest increase of 2013, while investment should tick up and inflation stay muted.

The trade figures on Sunday showed exports of electronics, textiles and machinery rose in the month. Exports to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations jumped 30.8 percent in August, outpacing the July gains, while exports to the United States rose 6.1 percent, faster than the 5.3 percent gains seen in July.

Exports to the European Union rose 2.5 percent, little changed from July’s figure, while exports to Japan contracted for the seventh consecutive month.

“There is no doubt that the external demand is improving, especially in developed countries,” said Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at Industrial Bank in Shanghai. But “Emerging market economies are struggling even though advanced economies are on the mend. Many Chinese companies, such as steel firms, are exporting at losses.”