(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-10 16:25

China saw its trade surplus drop sharply year-on-year in February to US$8.555 billion, about one quarter of that recorded in the same month last year, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

The 63 percent drop in the trade gap from the year-earlier period reflected the impact of a US slowdown while China's own expansion has stayed robust, driving demand for imports.

It was the smallest monthly surplus since March 2007.  February's trade balance might have been affected by severe winter storms that disrupted shipping, caused shortages of food and raw materials and forced some factories to suspend production.

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The country's trade volume in February reached US$166.181 billion, 18.4 percent up from a year earlier, according to latest figures from the administration.

China's imports in February surged 35 percent to US$78.8 billion from the year-earlier period. Exports grew by 6.5 percent to US$87.4 billion -- a much slower growth rate than January's 26 percent, according to the customs agency.

February's monthly trade gap with the United States, China's No. 2 trading partner, shrank 23 percent to US$9.4 billion compared with the same month in 2007, the customs agency said.

China's exports to the United States fell 5 percent in February to US$16.4 billion, while imports of American goods jumped 33 percent to US$6.1 billion.

The surplus with the 27-nation European Union, China's biggest trading partner, narrowed by 15 percent to US$10 billion, data showed.

Chinese and EU officials are due to meet in April in Beijing to launch a regular high-level dialogue aimed at defusing trade tensions. China also conducts similar twice-year meetings with the United States.

Beijing has repeatedly said that it was not actively pursuing a large surplus and wanted balanced trade. The central government is trying to encourage China's own consumers to spend more in hopes of reducing reliance on exports and industrial investment to drive growth.

Consumer inflation rose to 7.1 percent in January, its highest level in 11 years, and is expected to surpass that when figures for February are reported this week.