(Yicai) Sept. 11 -- China’s exports reached a 23-month peak last month after growing at the fastest pace this year thanks to strong overseas demand.

Exports of goods rose for the fifth straight month in August, jumping 8.7 percent from a year earlier to USD308.7 billion, according to data released yesterday by the General Administration of Customs. That greatly outstripped expectations.

Imports inched up 0.5 percent to USD217.6 billion. Overall, trade was up 5.2 percent at USD526.3 billion, giving the world’s second-largest economy a trade surplus of USD91 billion, a 34 percent jump from USD67.8 billion a year ago.

External demand has been growing this year on the back of such factors as the better-than-expected resilience of the US economy, the start of an upward cycle in the global electronics industry, and increasing expectations for interest rate cuts in the US and Europe, Feng Lin, director of the research and development department of Golden Credit Rating, told Yicai.

But exports may decline before the end of the year as there are already signs of slowing overseas demand in the softening data for US employment and the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, she added.

As external demand weakens, China is expected to beef up its economic policies to support domestic consumption and investment so as to achieve its annual growth target, Feng noted.

In the first eight months of the year, exports gained 4.6 percent to USD2.31 trillion from a year earlier, while imports rose 2.5 percent to USD1.71 trillion, the GAC’s data also showed. Total trade rose 3.7 percent to USD4.02 trillion, with the trade surplus up 11.2 percent to USD608.5 billion.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was China's largest trading partner in the eight months ended Aug. 31, as trade between the two jumped 10 percent to CNY4.5 trillion (USD632 billion).

The European Union and the United States ranked second and third at CNY3.72 trillion and CNY3.15 trillion, up 1.1 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

China's vehicle exports surged more than 22 percent to CNY540.8 billion (USD75.9 billion), up from 20.5 percent growth in the first seven months of the year, despite the EU slapping higher tariffs on China-made new energy vehicles.

The higher duties have had a limited impact so far, Feng said. But considering that the EU is an important overseas market for Chinese electric cars, the long-term effects still need close monitoring, she added.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione