China's overall trade touches USD 2.68 trillion

BEIJING: China's overall trade touched 2.68 trillion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of the year, up 36.3 percent year on year.

The figures were released by the country's General Administration of Customs (GAC) today.

Despite the debt crisis, the EU remained China's largest trade partner, with EU-China trade increasing 33.1-percent year on year in the first 11 months to USD 433.88 billion, it said.

China's trade with the United States rose 30.2 percent year on year to USD 346.89 billion in the January-November period while China-Japan trade jumped 31.7 percent year on year to USD 267.79 billion, GAC said.

China's exports registered a huge 34.9 per cent rise in November to USD 153.33 billion in value terms, even as its trade surplus declined due to high imports.

According to GAC, imports last month jumped 37.7 percent to USD 130.43 billion.

Projections suggest that China's export growth would decline next year.

The country's trade surplus fell to USD 22.89 billion last month from USD 27.1 billion in October, the GAC report said today.

The October surplus was the second highest of the year after July's USD 28.73 billion

Combined exports and imports totalled USD 283.76 billion last month - a new record high - compared with USD 273.09 billion in October.

The higher-than-expected exports were a result of "seasonal factors," said Beijing-based Huarong Securities analyst Xiao Bo, referring to the increase in orders ahead of shopping seasons.

Xiao expects Chinese export growth to fall in early 2011 as imports increase at a steady pace, causing the nation's trade surplus to further shrink.