Customs data on Thursday showed exports rose 16.4 percent from a year earlier to $180.6 billion, up from 4 percent growth in the first two months of the year. Imports rose 20.3 percent to $156.6 billion, down from the January-February rate of 26.4 percent.
That left the country with a trade surplus of $23.93 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said, reversing a rare deficit in February.
Exports in the first quarter of the year rose 8.2 percent from the same period last year, while imports surged 24.0 percent.
China's first-quarter trade surplus was $65.61 billion.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected March exports rose 3.2 percent on-year, after a surprise drop of 1.3 percent in February.
Imports had been expected to grow 18.0 percent, after a blowout 38.1 percent expansion the previous month.
Analysts had expected China to return to a surplus of $10.0 billion in March, versus February's $9.15 billion deficit.
China's economic data in January and February can be highly skewed by the timing of the long Lunar New Year holidays, when offices and factories shut for a week or more.
Source: Timesofindia.indiatimes.com