China retains 3rd position, shoe ind awaits EU dumping outcome
12 Jan '06
3 min read
The Chinese mainland recorded US$1.4 trillion in foreign trade volume last year, helping China to remain the third largest trader in the world.
Behind the big figures though, a widening trade surplus is arousing the concerns of trade partners.
Senator Max Baucus, a member of the US Senate Finance Committee, warned that Washington was likely to take measures to reduce imports from China to narrow the gap in bilateral trade.
China's General Administration of Customs yesterday said its statistics showed China's imports and exports grew 23.2 percent year-on-year to US$1.42 trillion in 2005. The volume nearly tripled that of 2001.
The country's exports stood at US$772 billion in 2005, up 28.4 percent on the previous year; imports hit US$660.1 billion, up 17.6 percent on the year before.
However, the country's trade surplus in 2005 tripled that of the previous year, reaching a record US$102 billion.
China saw a trade surplus of over US$100 billion with the United States last year.
But statistics from the US say the figure is around US$200 billion. The difference is due to different calculating methods.
China's trade surplus with the United States is not expected to massively decline this year, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher with the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think tank of the China Ministry of Commerce.
"I would like to contribute the imbalance to the fasteconomic growth of the United States and the cooling-down of China's economy in the first half of last year," he said.
marketing@alchempro.com
