(Yicai) Dec. 11 -- Year-end export growth is likely to be strong, as Chinese trade firms hurry to complete US orders ahead of expected tariff hikes when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in the new year, according to experts.

Even though export growth slowed last month from October, fourth-quarter growth is still expected to be relatively high, Feng Lin, executive director of the research and development department at Golden Credit Rating, told Yicai.

Exports rose 6.7 percent to USD312.3 billion in November from a year earlier, above the average growth rate for this year so far, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs yesterday. October’s increase was 12.7 percent.

The slowdown was mainly down to the fading effect of short-term factors that had previously lifted exports, Feng said, including a backlog of orders caused by extreme weather conditions and shipping disruptions in the summer.

The impact of the European Union's anti-subsidy duties on Chinese electric vehicles, imposed in July, also became more pronounced last month. The value of car and chassis exports sank 7.7 percent to USD9.1 billion from a year ago, according to customs data, marking the first monthly decline in nearly 51 months.

China’s imports fell 3.9 percent to USD214.9 billion last month, while overall trade grew 2.1 percent to USD527.2 billion, per customs data.

In the first eleven months of 2024, trade rose 3.6 percent to USD5.6 trillion. Exports climbed 5.4 percent to USD3.2 trillion, while imports rose 1.2 percent to USD2.4 trillion.

Editor: Tom Litting