Chinese exports and imports have cooled for the third month in a row in January, to a degree unseen in a decade.

Exports dropped 17.5% year-on-year, after a 2.8% slump in the previous month; while imports nosedived 43.1%, more than two-fold the December's 21.3% year-on-year drop.

The latest data was released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday.

The sharp decline in imports indicated a lack of domestic demand, said Stephen Green, chief Asia economist at Standard Chartered Standard. He added the persisting downward trend did not bode well for this year's GDP growth.

However, some believed the more than week-long lunar new year holiday had affected normal economic activity, thus the January figures were not reflective of the true severity of the situation.

"Compared to last year's January, there were less working days this year. The year-on-year comparison is thus unfair," said Fang Sihai, chief economist of Hong Yuan Securities.

With both the exports and imports plunging, China's trade surplus in January stood at 39.1 billion US dollars.