China's trade plunged in February as weak global demand and a business shutdown during the Lunar New Year holiday combined to depress sales.
Exports fell 25.4 percent from a year ago to $126.1 billion, worsening from January's 11.2 percent contraction, customs data showed Tuesday. Imports shrank 13.8 percent to $93.5 billion, an improvement over January's 18.8 percent decline.
The trade slump has complicated the ruling Communist Party's efforts to overhaul its state-dominated economy by adding the risk of politically dangerous job losses. The ruling party's plans call for keeping trade steady to protect millions of export-related jobs.
At the annual meeting of China's national legislature this week, the leadership refrained from announcing a trade growth target after last year's exports contracted by 2.8 percent, falling embarrassingly short of the official goal of 6 percent growth.
Chinese economic growth fell last year to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent. The government has set a target of 6.5 to 7 percent this year but the International Monetary Fund and private sector forecasters expect growth to fall as low as 6.3 percent.
The slowdown has hurt demand for industrial raw materials and other imports. February's numbers also were depressed by a two-week shutdown by factories and many other employers for the Lunar New Year holiday.
China's politically sensitive global trade surplus was $32.6 billion in February.
The trade surplus with the United States, China's biggest trading partner last month, narrowed by one-quarter from a year earlier to $14.5 billion as American purchases of Chinese goods fell 15 percent. The surplus with the 27-nation European Union contracted by one-third to $10 billion.
