China Reports Smaller-Than-Forecast Trade Surplus

China reported a smaller-than-forecast trade surplus of about $6.5 billion in January as a rebounding economy and rising commodity costs helped drive a 51 percent gain in imports.

The gap, the smallest in nine months, was less than the $11.3 billion median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and a $13 billion excess in December. Exports rose 38 percent from a year earlier, the customs bureau said on its website today. January data is distorted by the timing of Chinese New Year.