China exports slump 25.4% in Feb, imports down 13.8%

China's foreign trade continued to decline due to economic slowdown as exports from the global trading giant slumped 25.4% year-on-year to $126.3 billion in February, the lowest in six years.

The decline in exports widened from a 6.6% decrease in January, but that of imports narrowed from 14.4% a month earlier, figures released bythe General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

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In dollar-denominated terms, China's exports fell 25.4% from a year earlier in February, worsening from the 11.2% decline in January.

Imports dropped 13.8%, a milder decrease than 18.8% in January.

The monthly foreign trade surplus shrank by 43.3% year on year to 209.5 billion yuan in February, down from 406.2 billion yuan a month earlier.

Total foreign trade value in February fell 15.7% year-on-year to 1.43 trillion yuan, a steeper decline than the 9.8% contraction seen in January.

Trade with China's biggest trade partner, the European Union, dropped 9.7% year on year in the first two months of 2016, GAC data showed.

In the same period, trade with the United States, its second biggest trade partner, went down 12.2% and that with the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the third largest trade partner, dipped 14.9%.

Trade by private firms, which accounted for nearly 40% of the country's total, slipped 7.3% year on year in the January to February period.

State-owned companies fared worse, posting a 21.4% plunge in trade, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Foreign trade in the first two months was 12.6% lower than a year earlier at 3.31 trillion yuan, with exports down 13.1% to 1.96 trillion yuan and imports down 11.8% to 1.35 trillion yuan.

In the first two months of this year, the trade surplus narrowed by 15.9% to 615.9 billion yuan.

China's foreign trade continued to be declined as the economy last year slipped to 6.9%, the lowest in 26 years.

China now fixed this year GDP target between 6.5% to 7%.