China-EU trade keeps growing

Trade between China and its largest trading partner, the European Union, maintained robust upward momentum over the first seven months of this year with 12 new EU members playing an increasingly important role.

The figures released by China's Ministry of Commerce on August 27， show that China-EU trade, totaling 243 billion USD from January to July, increased by 27.9 percent over the same period last year. This mimics the 27 percent growth for the whole of 2007; and the 28.5 percent growth in the first seven months of 2007.

China exported 165 billion USD to and imported 78.1 billion USD from the EU. Exports goes up 27.1 percent and imports rise 29.8 percent.

Germany remains China's largest trading partner in the EU. Its trade with China was reported at 65 billion USD in the first seven months of the year - more than double that of the second largest trading partner, the Netherlands. Britain is the third.

Trade between China and the 12 new members, which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007, reached nearly 22.1 billion USD in the first seven months of the year. This is a surge of 48 percent, compared with the 19.5 percent growth rate in the whole of 2007 and the 24.3 percent in the first seven months of 2007. China's exports to those countries were buoyant by 50.6 percent and imports by 36.4 percent.

The most significant progress is seen in Malta. Bilateral trade with this country skyrocketed 168 percent after a 15 percent decrease in 2007.

Source: People's Daily Online