THE country’s quarterly trade surplus fell for the first time in more than three years, underscoring the risk that weakening foreign demand will slow China’s economic growth.

The trade surplus declined 10.2 percent year on year to US$41.6 billion in the first three months of this year, according to calculations based on trade data released Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce.

Slowing overseas demand will likely hurt exporters and lead to increasing layoffs in the manufacturing sector, Sun Mingchun, an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, wrote in a note. “The government will likely re-rank its policy priorities in the second half of this year, placing more emphasis on growth rather than inflation.’’

China’s exports rose 21.4 percent to US$306 billion in the first quarter, slowing from an increase of 27.8 percent a year earlier. Imports increased 28.6 percent to US$264 billion.

China’s exports of machinery and electronic products rose 23.1 percent to US$181.4 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier, accounting for 59.3 percent of the nation’s total shipments.

The March trade surplus doubled to about US$13.6 billion from a year earlier. The gap widened so much because last year’s surplus of US$6.8 billion was depressed by changes to export taxes.

Slowing demand from Europe and the United States, China’s largest export markets, faster yuan appreciation against the U.S. dollar and rising costs from labor and imported raw materials are squeezing exporters’ margins and discouraging outbound shipments, said Shen Minggao, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Beijing. (SD-Agencies)