China Trade Growth Slumps in April HONG KONG - China's exports and imports both grew considerably more slowly than expected last month, the Chinese government announced on Thursday, in one of the clearest signals yet of lingering and possibly worsening weakness in the world's second biggest economy. China has been the largest single contributor to global economic growth in recent years, and a sustained slowdown in its economy could pose problems for many other countries. Particularly exposed are countries that export commodities like iron ore and oil, and depend on demand from China's voracious steel mills and ever-growing ranks of car owners. Exports rose slowly in April from a year earlier, climbing 4.9 percent, China's General Administration of Customs announced on Thursday. That was roughly half the growth that economists had expected. But the big surprise on Thursday came in the Chinese announcement that imports grew only 0.3 percent in April from a year earlier - nothing close to economists" predictions of an increase of 11 percent. The Chinese economy is heavily intertwined with global markets, with China's companies reliant on imports for everything from raw materials for steel to computer chips for high-tech products. So import statistics have been a good gauge of the health of the broader Chinese economy. Stock markets fell by mid-day in east Asia on the Chinese late morning announcement. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 0.9 percent. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock market reversed early gains when the trade news came out and were down about 0.2 percent by late morning. Malaise in the European economy seems to be having a direct effect on China. In the first four months of this year, combined exports and imports to and from Europe grew by only 0.3 percent from the same period last year, the Chinese customs agency said. Bilateral trade with Japan actually shrank by 1.5 percent in the first four months of this year. But trade with the United States increased 9.2 percent as the American economy began to recover. The figures released on Thursday were only a preliminary snapshot of the trade situation in April, and included only a few details of exports and imports by country, by month or by product. Some of the weakest export categories were apparel, up 1 percent, and textiles, down 1 percent.