China defied the widespread fears about a new slowdown in the global economy to record another surge in exports last month compared with the same period last year, although the figures will draw attention again to whether the Chinese currency remains undervalued.

The 44 per cent increase in exports last month year-on-year led China to rack up another large monthly trade surplus in June, the $20bn (€15.8bn, ￡13.3bn) result adding to the surplus of $19.5bn in May, which could indicate that China's external surplus might balloon again in the second half of the year.

The Chinese central bank announced on June 19 that it was abandoning a near two-year peg to the US dollar and since then the renminbi has appreciated by 0.77 per cent against the dollar. The Obama administration responded by refraining from labelling China as a “currency manipulator” in a report last week, although it said that the renminbi “remains undervalued”.