December’s Export Growth: Flattering To Deceive?

China’s exports picked up in December with surprising vigour, up 14.1% year-on-year, far outstripping expectations of 4% growth. That was the fastest pace of growth in seven months. It remains to be seen if it is indicative of a trend, or a one-off seasonal outlier. U.S. and European demand for Chinese goods remains subdued going into 2013. For the full year trade expanded by 6.2% overall, short of the government’s 10% growth target for 2012.