The prevailing market narrative after China’s overall November trade data was that the world’s second-biggest economy is softening and starting to show the strains of the trade dispute with the United States. After all, both imports and exports undershot forecasts for the month. But while there is nothing inherently incorrect in such commentary, one factor that may not be getting as much attention as it should – the lower-than-anticipated growth in imports may be largely related to weaker commodity prices. China’s exports rose 5.4 percent in November from a year earlier, well short of the 10 percent forecast in a Reuters poll. Imports grew a sluggish 3 percent, considerably weaker than the 14.5 percent forecast. The export weakness […]