Economist Zhang Zhiwei and colleagues at Nomura International maintained their view that growth is set to decrease further to 7.1 percent in the current quarter.
“The April trade data hold few surprises and we maintain our view of GDP growth slowing… as the property sector begins to correct,” they wrote in a research note.
But Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting and colleagues called the year-on-year export growth “encouraging” and said it backed up their view that growth would accelerate slightly to 7.5 percent.
Growth in exports to the United States and the European Union in April far outpaced their performance in March, they added.
The trade figures come after diverse readings on Chinese manufacturing.
A private purchasing managers index (PMI) survey released Monday by British bank HSBC showed the sector contracted for a fourth consecutive month in April. In contrast, last week the government’s official PMI remained in marginal expansion.
Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao, economists at ANZ Bank, cited “mixed signals” ahead for China’s trade outlook, noting the up-tick in the official PMI reading but also a double-digit decline in contracts at a major Chinese trade fair.
The slowdown in Chinese growth comes as leaders say they want to make private demand the key driver for the economy, moving away from over-reliance on huge and often wasteful investment projects that have formed the basis for decades of expansion.
Such a transformation is expected to result in slower but more stable and sustainable growth in the long run. China in March set its annual growth target for this year at about 7.5 percent, the same as last year.
The median forecast in an AFP survey last month of 13 economists is for an expansion of 7.4 percent in 2014.
