General Administration of Customs

Chinese exports returned to growth last month while imports smashed expectations, data showed Thursday, providing a much-needed boost to the country's leadership as it tries to steer the economy out of a long-running slump.

Greece and China shared their will to resolve issues so as to allow a series of Greek agricultural products to be exported to the Chinese market, at a meeting between Greek Minister of Rural Development and Food Lefteris Avgenakis and the Chinese vice minister of the General Administration of Customs, Zhao Zenglian, in Beijing.

China's exports fell at a faster pace than predicted in October, data showed yesterday, as the world's second-largest economy is buffeted by faltering global demand and a sluggish domestic recovery.

China's 2018 iron ore imports fell by 1 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline since 2010, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Jan. 14.

China's imports grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in November, fueled by its strong thirst for commodities from coal to iron ore, while exports also rose unexpectedly, reflecting a pick-up in both domestic and global demand.