Economy

China's foreign trade surplus shrinks by half

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-14 13:18

BEIJING - China's foreign trade surged 44 percent year on year in January boosted by busy shipments ahead of the nation's traditional Spring Festival, while trade surplus shrank by half, the customs agency said on Monday.

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Exports rose by 37.7 percent year on year to 150.73 billion US dollars while imports increased by 51 percent to 144.28 billion US dollars, the General Administration of Customs said on its website.

Foreign trade totaled 295.01 billion US dollars.

The trade surplus shrank 53.5 percent year on year to 6.45 billion US dollars in January, much less than the market expected.

Chinese New Year fell on February 3 this year, while last year it fell on February 14. Exports and imports were pushed up in January as a result.

Exporters and importers frontloaded their trading activities in January this year, said Lu Ting, an economist with the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Because of this both export and import growth will probably slump in February, he said.

According to an analyst with Anbound, a Beijing-based investment consultancy, exports are unlikely to plunge in the short-run, as developing economies were showing more signs of recovery.

The European Union remained China's largest trade partner in 2010, with EU-China trade up 30.5 percent year on year to 45.97 billion US dollars.

Trade with the United States rose 39.2 percent year on year to 36.87 billion US dollars while China-Japan trade jumped 42 percent year on year to 27.84 billion US dollars.

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) surged 34.5 percent to 28.89 billion USdollars. The trade deficit with the ASEAN nations increased 4.4 fold to 2.17 billion US dollars.