Facts and figures about China-EU trade

The European Union has been China's largest trading partner since 2004. For EU, China is the second largest trading partner and the fastest growing export market in the world. And EU is China's largest source of technical imports and the fourth biggest source of foreign direct investment.

Trade between China and EEC (European Economic Community) stood at merely 2.4 billion USD in 1975 when China and EEC established diplomatic relationship. In 2007, bilateral trade between China and the European Union reached 356.15 billion USD. The increase has been more than 20 percent annually since 2003.

China has a surplus of 134.23 billion USD in the trade with EU in 2007, which accounts for 51.2 percent of China's total trade surplus. Of the surplus in the trade with EU, 61.9 percent comes from foreign-funded businesses in China with 19 percent from European companies in China.

In 2007, China exported 245.19 billion USD to the EU, growing by 29.2 percent over that of 2006. Imports from EU valued 110.96 billion USD, an increase of 22.4 percent. Mechanical and electrical products play a leading role in both exports and imports, posting 154.74 billion USD and 73.78 billion USD respectively.

the first round of negotiations on updating the 1985 Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement between China and EEC (the European Economic Community) was held in Oct. 2007

Facts and figures

Trade volume between China and EU had reached US$272.3 billion in 2007, more than double its value/figure in 2003 (125.2 billion).

Since 2003, the EU has settled 10,284 investment projects in China with a total investment of US$37 billion, and US$18.9 billion in actual use of investment.

Since 2003, China has introduced 9,132 technology projects from the EU with an investment amounting to US$26.7 billion.

September 2006: China and EU kicked off the "Partnership and Cooperation Agreement" (PCA), and perfected the "Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement" which was signed in 1985.

June, 2003: China asked the EU to consider China's market economy status during its trade remedies investigation.

June 2004: the EU released its primary evaluation report on China's market economy status.

June 2007: the EU updates its evaluation report on China's market economy status, and the tune is positive.

From 2003 to 2007, China and the EU had made several negotiations on footwear, materials from animal products, standard of lighters, and carbon black.

Source: People's Daily Online