China's May exports climb nearly 50%

BEIJING - China's exports surged by 48.5 percent year on year in May, while the imports climbed 48.3 percent, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced Thursday.

The growth rate for exports was 18.1 percentage points up from the figure for April, and the import growth rate dipped slightly from 49.7 percent reported in April.

Piles of containers are seen at a port in Yingkou, Liaoning province June 10, 2010.[Agencies]

Exports totalled 131.76 billion US dollars in May, said a statement on the GAS website, adding imports topped 112.23 billion US dollars.

Total foreign trade value rose 48.4 percent from a year earlier to 243.99 billion US dollars in May. The figure was even 10.2 percent higher than May 2008 before the global financial crisis began, the statement said.

Exports were up 9.2 percent from May in 2008 and imports grew 11.4 percent.

From January to May, the total value of foreign trade rose 44 percent year on year to 1.1 trillion US dollars.

Exports were up 33.2 percent to 567.74 billion US dollars and imports rose 57.5 percent to 532.35 billion US dollars, said the statement.

The trade surplus fell 59.9 percent to 35.39 billion US dollars in the first five months.