BEIJING, Aug 8 (Reuters) - China's July exports fell by a more than expected 4.4 percent from a year earlier, while imports fell 12.5 percent, also missing expectations, data showed on Monday.

That left the country with a trade surplus of $52.31 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected exports to fall 3.0 percent and imports to drop 7.0 percent, extending a long stretch of declines and highlighting persistently weak demand at home and abroad.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Elias Glenn; Editing by Kim Coghill)