The government tries to adjust the figures for changes in the number of working

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days and holidays each month.

On this basis, Lu noted, exports fell from the previous month for the second month in a row -- by 2.2 percent -- suggesting that the recovery in global demand was not as vigorous as imagined.

"I think the sequential figures will cool down expectations of near-term yuan appreciation before trade fully recovers," he said.

But Jun Ma, chief China economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, said the very strong headline rise in exports cemented his view that exports for all of 2010 could surge 30 percent, dwarfing the government's forecast of an 8 percent rise.

"Obviously, it will translate into stronger pressure for exchange rate reform and it will also add inflationary pressure to the domestic economy, because when exports recover, prices tend to go up. It will reinforce the argument for further policy tightening," Ma said.

The Australian dollar edged up slightly in the wake of the trade data, but overall market reaction was muted.

China has kept the yuan pegged near 6.83 per U.S. dollar since July 2008 to help its exporters weather the global economic downturn, but expectations are mounting that Beijing will let the currency resume its rise later in the year.

Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Saturday that the decision to repeg the yuan had been a special response to the international crisis and that China would have to shift from that policy stance sooner or later.

"The country will possibly let the yuan rise in the second quarter, mainly because of strong domestic growth, but also because of heavy global pressure," said Zhu at CITIC Securities.