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Exports hit US$80.34 billion in July, up 22.6 percent from a year earlier, while imports rose 19.7 percent to US$65.72 billion, the newspaper quoted a source familiar with the figures as saying.
It said the customs office would announce the data on Wednesday or Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a surplus of US$14.5 billion based on export growth of 23.6 percent and import growth of 20.8 percent.
If confirmed, the figure would take China's 12-month rolling trade surplus to US$126.8 billion from US$122.6 billion in June.
The surplus trebled in calendar year 2005 to US$102 billion and the State Information Centre, a key government think-tank, said it is likely to swell further to US$146 billion this year.
"We expect China's foreign trade will tend to be more balanced in the second half of 2006," the think-tank said in a research report published in the newspaper.
It forecast China's exports to grow 24 percent in all of 2006, with imports rising 21 percent.
(US$1=7.97 yuan)