Despite worldwide economic woes, China’s trade surplus increases

Amazing, but analysts are quick to point out that export growth is expected to cool:

Exports rose 21.5 percent from a year earlier to $136.4 billion after gaining 21.1 percent in August, the customs bureau said on its Web site. The trade surplus climbed to $29.3 billion, a figure derived by deducting the value of imports from the number for exports.

China has cut interest rates twice in a month to stimulate the economy as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression undermines global growth. The surplus adds to $1.8 trillion of foreign-currency reserves, a buffer that may help the nation to maintain an expansion of more than 9 percent even as a world recession looms.

Here’s the AP article from yesterday about worries from Chinese exporters on how the credit crisis will affect demand.