Foreign trade reaches more than US$500b
(Xinhuanet)
Updated: 2005-06-12 08:58

China's foreign trade surged by 23.2 percent year on year to reach US$522.78 billion in the first five months, the latest customs statistics show.

Figures from China Customs show that the trade volume included US$276.4 billion in exports and US$246.38 billion in imports, respectively up 33.2 and 13.7 percent over the same period last year.

General trade registered US$225.48 billion in the first five months with a year-on-year rise of 21.1 percent. The exports in general trade rose 37.8 percent to US$117.48 billion and imports 7 percent to US$108 billion.

The processing trade reported a rise of 26.3 percent in the period to US$248.21 billion, including US$148.84 billion in exports and US$99.37 billion in imports, up 29.4 and 22 percent, respectively.

Customs statistics show that two-way trade between China and the European Union (EU), the United States and Japan, China's top three trade partners, registered a big rise.

The EU remained China's largest trade partner in the first five months with a trade volume of US$81.84 billion, up 24.2 percent.

The Sino-US trade volume rose 24.6 percent year-on-year to US$77.7 billion in the first five months.

The trade volume between China and Japan reached US$70.72 billion, up 10.1 percent year-on-year.

ASEAN, or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has become China's fourth largest trade partner with the trade volume at US$48.56 billion, a rise of 25.8 percent year on year.

Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai remain the leading places in foreign trade. Guangdong Province registered a trade volume of US$150.58 billion, up 16 percent year-on-year and making up 28.8 percent of the country's total. Jiangsu and Shanghai reported foreign trade at US$84.37 billion and US$71.44 billion in the first five months, a year-on-year growth of 37.5 and 16 percent, respectively.

Close