A day after revising its 2014 GDP growth figures downwards, China got more bad news about its economy with data showing the dollar value of its foreign trade dropped 9.7 per cent in August.

Exports for August fell by 5.5 per cent from the previous year and imports were down a steep 13.8 per cent, raising more doubts about the health of the world's second-largest economy...

But the news is a poor sign for countries that supply China with commodities and other goods, as it shows China may not resume its role of powering markets for raw materials...

This has been excerpted from the 8 September 2015 edition of CBC News and is available in its entirety at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/chinese-imports-drop-13-8-casting-more-doubts-about-its-economy-1.3219290