China's trade surplus shrinks sharply

BEIJING: China's trade surplus fell dramatically to $17.75 billion in August as compared to $31.48 billion worth of surplus seen in July this year. This is partly because of a record group in imports and the fact that the month of July saw trade surplus touching a seven-month high.

The first eight months of 2011 has seen China's trade surplus totaling $92.73 billion after shrinking 10 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

The country's the General Administration of Customs said on Saturday that exports has risen 24.5 percent year-on-year in August to reach $173.31 billion. But imports rose faster at 30.2 percent to reach $155.56 billion U.S. dollars, which is a record high since March this year.

Taken together, the country's exports and imports amounted to $2.35 trillion in the first eight months of 2011 reflecting a 25.4-percent increase year-on-year. Exports between January and August totaled $1.22 trillion U.S. dollars, up 23.6 percent, Imports rose 27.5% to $1.13 trillion.

As a block, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) showed the highest growth in trade with China rising 26.6% in the past eight months when bilateral exchanges came to $234.61 billion. The EU continued to be China's biggest trading partner with trade volumes rising 21.8% to $372.14 billion.

China's trade with the United States ranked second at $285.65 billion after rising 17.8% in the January-August period as compared to the same period in 2010.

The data showed China's purchased of iron ore, a commodity which it buys from India, Australia and other sources, rose 10.6 per cent to 450 million tonnes in the first eight months. It has to pay an average of $164.4 per tonne, up 37.4 percent year-on-year.