BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) - China's exports and imports growth slowed last month, raising concerns of a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy. December, exports rose 10.9 percent from a year earlier, beating analysts' forecast of a 9.1 percent increase, but cooling from a robust 12.3 percent gain in November.
Imports grew at an even slower pace of 4.5 percent year-on-year last month, the weakest since they rose 3.1 percent in December 2016, and way below forecasts of 13.0 percent growth.
Following is a breakdown of China's exports and imports with its biggest trade partners in December.
(Trade figures in $ billion, percent changes year-on-year):
Dec-17 Exports Imports Balance Exports
Imports
Exports
Imports
+/- % y/y +/- % y/y +/- % m/m +/- % m/m Japan
13.0
15.8
-2.9
14.9%
5.9%
-3.0%
2.2% South
9.4
17.2
-7.8
-6.1%
6.1%
-5.9%
-3.4% Korea
Taiwan
4.6
15.1
-10.4
21.6%
2.1%
12.4%
-6.8% European
37.8
23.1
14.6
12.7%
16.4%
11.4%
0.3% Union
USA
41.8
16.2
25.6
12.7%
5.8%
-0.8%
14.0% Australia
4.2
7.6
-3.4
21.6%
0.3%
-4.5%
-9.4% ASEAN
28.2
24.3
3.9
8.3%
11.1%
-2.6%
0.4%