Australia isn't the only country to see a significant improvement in recent months (see next story).

China's trade balance rebounded strongly last month, thanks to a surge in exports and a fall in imports.

The trade surplus hit $IS11.4 billion in April, far larger than most analysts (Reuters expected a surplus of $US3 billion, Dow Jones, $US1 billion).

The figure for last month was significantly better than the surplus of $140 million in March.

It means the trade deficit for the March quarter of just over $US1 billion is almost certain to be reversed this quarter.

News of the surplus came a day before the majority of the Chinese monthly economic data is released, especially the inflation and production figures.

The surplus of $US11.4 billion, compared to $US1.68 billion a year earlier, just $US139 million in March and a deficit of $US7.3 billion in February.

China's exports increased 29.9% in April from a year earlier to $US155.69 billion, while imports rose 21.8% year on year to reach $US144.26 billion, the Chinese Customs service said.

Last month, the growth rate of exports was 5.9 percentage points down from March while that of imports was 5.5 percentage points lower month on month.

In April, the total value of imports and exports increased 25.9% year on year to $US299.95 billion.

(On a seasonally adjusted basis Chinese exports jumped 35.1% in April from the same month a year earlier and were up a large 12.3% from March. Seasonally adjusted imports in April rose 27.4% from a year earlier and 7.4% from the previous month).

Marketwatch reported "The quick rebound to surplus is driven more by the deceleration of the Chinese economy than the robustness of global demand, attested by much slower import growth - a proxy for domestic demand," wrote Global Insight analysts Alistair Thornton and Xianfang Ren in a note following the release of the customs data.

On a seasonally adjusted basis Chinese exports jumped 35.1% in April from the same month a year earlier and were up a large 12.3% from March.

Seasonally adjusted imports in April rose 27.4% from a year earlier and 7.4% from the previous month.

But Marketwatch also said that another analyst, Bank of America- Merrill Lynch's Hong Kong-based economist, Ting Lu, wrote: "Shall we get worried about a potential weakness of China's economy? We don't think so."

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