China’s trade data has come in better than expected, with exports rising for the first time in five months while imports also climbed higher. According to customs data, exports climbed 7.6% higher YoY while imports rose 16.3% higher YoY during December.

After a contraction by 1.3% during November, economists had forecast China’s exports to rise by 3.2%, but the growth was far higher than expectations. Higher commodity prices boosted China’s imports to come in higher than the o.5% growth seen in November and beat economists’ forecast for a 9.6% increase.

China’s trade surplus for December touched $46.79 billion, higher than the previous month’s figure which stood at $37.93 billion but slightly lower than economists’ forecast which was for a reading of $48 billion. As a result of the trade war, China’s trade surplus with the US edged lower to $23.18 billion in November from $24.60 billion during November.

Overall, China’s exports to the US declined by 12.5% in 2019 after having grown by 11.3% during 2018. Meanwhile, the tariffs war drove imports from the US lower 20.9% lower in 2019 after having grown by 0.7% in 2018.