China poised to seize world's export crown

There will be no question of China surpassing Germany as the world's largest exporter in 2009, based on the nation's higher-than-expected performance on exports in December, said analysts.

According to statistics released by Customs yesterday, China's exports in December surged by as much as 17 percent from a year earlier to $130 billion, which ended 13-months of negative annual growth that began in November 2008.

The December growth, far higher than previous forecasts, is expected to be sustained during the first quarter and to put pressure on the Chinese government to appreciate the yuan, analysts predicted.