The quantities of goods exported from the world’s second-largest economy China rose 10.9 percent in December, lower than the 12.3 percent recorded in November but better than the 9.1 percent forecast by economists.

According to the report released by customs administration on Friday, imports grew slower than expected in the month, expanding by 4.5 percent year-on-year from 17.7 percent in November. The weaker than expected figure boosted trade surplus by $14 billion to $54.69 billion.

But the 2017 data also showed that the total exports in the year climbed 10.8 percent while imports surged by 18.7 percent. Meaning, import growth outpaced exports in 2017.

“Import growth outpaced that of exports significantly for the whole year of 2017, indicating that China’s growth profile has been experiencing a transition as domestic demand has been picking up,” said Zhou Hao, a senior emerging markets economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore. “China is on its way to rebalancing its growth model and it makes sense to accelerate the deleveraging process as growth looks fine over the foreseeable future.”

Improved global economic outlook is aiding Chinese products as economic growth in major trading partners remains healthy, and the U.S. – Chinese trade war projected by most analysts to disrupt growth is yet to materialize.  Hence, the reason the economy is expected to expand at about 6.9 percent in 2017, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.