China’s export machine showed a marked improvement in April, taking some pressure off a leadership that is nervous about a slowing economy and pointing to firmer global demand from the developed economies that form its biggest market. Total trade firmed in April, with both exports and imports growing by just under 1 per cent year-on-year. That could reassure Chinese policy makers worried that the country is facing a slowdown as it weans itself off a credit binge. Beijing has quietly adopted looser policies in spite of rhetoric about accepting a shift to slower, more sustainable growth. The April export numbers represent an improvement on March when Chinese exports fell 6.6 per cent from a year earlier. Overall, China’s trade figures pointed to a gradually improving outlook for a sector which still accounts for more than one-fifth of the Chinese economy. Stronger trade figures with Europe – up 8.5 per […]