BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's exports grew more slowly than expected in November while imports remained unchanged from one year earlier, shrinking the monthly trade surplus to 19.63 billion U.S. dollars, customs data showed Monday.
Exports in November rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, well below market expectations for a 9-percent increase and October's 11.6-percent growth, the General Administration of Customs said.
Imports were flat compared with November 2011 and weaker than the 2.4-percent rise seen in October.
Li Jian, a foreign trade expert from the Ministry of Commerce's research institute, said the decrease was caused by a higher comparative base from last year.
Last November saw the largest monthly import volume and the third-largest export volume in 2011.
The tepid imports were also caused by sluggish growth in China's major trading partners, as exporting goods that are assembled or processed in Chinese factories with imported raw materials and parts account for a large proportion of China's foreign trade, said Liu Ligang, an economist with ANZ National Bank Ltd.
China's trade with the EU, the nation's largest trading partner, fell 4.1 percent year on year during the January-November period, while that with the United States, the country's second-largest partner, climbed 8.2 percent from a year ago.
Trade with Japan shrank 2.9 percent compared with the same period last year, customs data showed.
In the first 11 months, China's foreign trade increased 5.8 percent year on year.
The Chinese government has targeted growth of 10 percent for total foreign trade this year, a figure that officials have conceded will be hard to achieve.
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