The export growth in April was milder than the 18.7 per cent increase in March, while imports fell at a faster pace compared with the 1.7 per cent fall in the previous month, General Administration of Customs said.
Foreign trade edged down 0.3 per cent year on year to 1.95 trillion yuan last month and that for the first four months combined slipped 4.4 per cent to 7.17 trillion yuan.
In the January-April period, exports dropped 2.1 per cent year on year while imports went down 7.5 per cent, leading to a trade surplus of 1.11 trillion yuan, widening 16.5 per cent from a year earlier.
Exports to the European Union, China's largest trade partner, climbed 1.3 per cent year on year in the first four months, state-run Xinhua quoted the GAC data as showing.
In the same period, exports to the US and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, China's second- and third-largest trade partners, both declined 3.5 per cent.
Imports of iron ore, crude oil and copper posted strong increase in the four months -- up 6.1 per cent, 11.8 per cent and 23.1 per cent, respectively. But imports of coal, steel and refined oil fell.