China tips $100bn trade surplus  

Export goods are loaded onto a cargo vessel at Qingdao port.

China predicts its trade surplus could triple to $100 billion this year, lifted by a 30 percent jump in exports, state media reported Friday.

China's Commerce Ministry warned that the surge could create new trade tensions, put additional pressure on China to revalue its currency and cause financial risks, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying that China needed to do more to boost domestic consumption as a way to shrink the trade gap.

China's trade surplus from January to August reached $60 billion, already far exceeding the $32 billion recorded for all of 2004.

By year's end, the surplus was expected to balloon to $90 billion to $100 billion, the ministry said.

Exports have increased despite China's decision in July to make its currency, the yuan, about 2 percent stronger against the U.S. dollar, and allow it to trade in a restricted float against a basket of currencies.

Chinese textile and clothing exports have surged with the lifting of global textile quotas on January 1, and the United States and Europe have put limits on Chinese textile shipments to protect their own clothing manufacturers.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will be in Beijing later this month for talks with Chinese economic officials.

U.S. officials would like to see China accelerate its efforts to allow the value of yuan set by market forces.

(Agencies)

forward book value: （預期的帳面凈值）