CHINA's top eight ports in November handled 13 million TEU, up 3.9 per cent year on year, bringing year-to-date volumes to 140.6 million TEU, a rise of 2.9 per cent. Volumes at Shanghai, the world's busiest container port, grew six per cent to 3.2 million TEU. 

With throughput up by 10 per cent, Hong Kong also had a strong November as it continued to claw back losses sustained over two years amid stiff competition from other Pearl River Delta ports. 

Hong Kong's year-to-date throughput now stands at negative four per cent, figures from the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board show.

The three major ports in the delta performed handled a combined 5.6 million TEU in November, a rise of 11.5 per cent year on year. Volumes at the port of Guangzhou surged by 26 per cent to 1.8 million TEU.

At the major Yangtze River Delta port of Ningbo-Zhoushan year-to-date volumes rose to 20 million TEU. Combined throughput in the region's ports grew 2.6 per cent on a year-to-date basis, according to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

The ports in the north of the country fared less well. November volumes dropped at Qingdao by 10 per cent, Tianjin by 4.7 per cent, and Dalian by 3.9 per cent. Rounding out the top eight ports, volumes at the eastern port of Xiamen grew by 7.7 per cent to 8.7 million TEU.

According to IHS Markit's senior China economist Brian Jackson, the domestic housing market and automotive sales remain the biggest risks to growth in 2017. "While the housing correction is already building momentum, it is expected to deepen significantly in the first quarter of 2017," Mr Jackson said in a research note.

"China's automotive sector currently accounts for about one per cent of total industrial output growth of six per cent year to date, and about two percentage points of retail sales growth of 10.4 per cent, so even a modest deceleration in those components will have a meaningful and widespread impact on growth in 2017."

The positive ports data follow better-than-expected November trade numbers. Customs reported that exports rose 0.1 per cent in dollar value terms to US$19.7 billion, following a contraction of 7.3 per cent in October. Imports were up 6.7 per cent to $15.2 billion, from a decline of 1.4 per cent the previous month. 

China's industrial production expanded 6.2 per cent in November and retail sales rose by a year high of 10.8 per cent. Imports of major commodities such as iron ore, coal, copper, and oil also registered strong growth. 

In the bulk cargo sector, China imported the largest volume of coal in 18 months and 92 million tonnes of iron ore, the third-highest monthly volume on record. Copper imports also surged by nearly one-third.