China's foreign trade reaches 1.5 trillion USD

China's total value of foreign trade reached approximately 1.482 trillion USD by the end of July this year, growing by 26.4% over the same period of last year, according to statistics issued by China Customs on August 12, 2008.

Of the total value, exports accounted for 802.91 billion USD, increasing by 22.6%. Imports amounted to 679.2 billion USD, rising by 31.1%. The cumulative total trade surplus reached 123.72 billion USD, decreasing by 9.6% from the same period last year; and the net decrease totaled 13.1billion USD.

Moreover, in July, China's total value of foreign trade was 248.07 billion USD, growing by 29.8%. Among the total value, exports reached 136.68 billion USD, rising by 26.9%; and imports climbed to 11.14 billion USD increasing by 33.7%.

In the first seven months, the proportion of general trade saw an obvious growth in foreign trade. General trade reached 720.5 billion USD, increasing by 36.3%, accounting for 48.6% of total foreign trade. It was up 3.5% year-on-year.

In the first seven months, the European Union was China's first largest trade partner with a total trade volume of 243.14 billion USD between the two countries, an increase of 27.9%. The United States was China's second largest trade partner with a total trade volume of 189.11 billion USD yuan between the two, growing by 13.2%, and down 4.3% year-on-year. Japan was China's third trade partner with a total trade volume of 154.93 billion USD yuan between the two, growing by 19.2%.

Meanwhile, in the first seven months, China's exports of the electromechanical products had witnessed well growth among all exported products. The value of imported junior products was 221.65 billion yuan, up 70.6%, accounting for 32.6% of total imports.

Source: People's Daily Online