China's exports plunged 25.7 per cent in February from a year earlier, the customs bureau said today, in a worrying sign of the depth of the global slowdown that took markets by surprise.
The world's third-largest economy last month posted exports of $64.9 billion, the customs bureau said on its website.
"This is clearly worse than expected," said Robert Subbaraman, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Nomura International.
"We were looking for a rise (in exports) of 1.2 per cent. The market consensus was looking for a rise of one per cent."
Imports last month dropped 24.1 per cent to $60.1 billion, according to the customs bureau.
China's trade surplus in February stood at $4.84 billion, the customs bureau said, a massive drop from $39.1 billion the previous month.
It was down by nearly half compared with last year's February trade surplus, which was $8.56 billion, according to earlier customs figures.