Exports from China jumped by 46 percent in February compared with a year ago, increasing hopes of a strong recovery in global trade.

According to the BBC News, "the increase was higher than analysts' expectations of a rise between 35% and 40%. It is likely to increase pressure on the Chinese government to raise the value of the yuan, which the US in particular complains is undervalued."

Last month, China imports also increased strongly, rising by 44.7 percent.

The large growth in imports was assisted by the government's economic stimulus spending. The increase in imports reduced China's trade surplus to a one-year low of $7.6 bilion for February.

As reported by the BBC, "Beijing had kept the yuan at the same level against the US dollar for 18 months, to help its exporters. This has angered the U.S., which says the Chinese government keeps the yuan unfailry undervalued, and Washington continues to call on Beijing to allow the currency to float freely to reflect its true market value."

Ren Xianfeng, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Beijing, said, "the recovery seems to have gained legs and this will give China's government more confidence to start revaluing the yuan.

Nonetheless, Zhou Xiaochuan, China's central bank governor, announced at the weekend that the government was "very cautious" about easing exchange rate controls since the global economic outlook was still uncertain.

The BBC reports that, "analysts said that while the 46% of growth in exports in February was obviously ver strong, it was inflated by the comparison with February 2009, when shipments fell by 25.7%.

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