China Trade Surplus Falls By 9.6%

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Aug. 12 – The country’s trade surplus dropped by 9.6 percent to US$123.72 billion for the first seven months of the year.

The decrease has been attributed to regulations to control surplus and rising energy costs.The country’s imports shot by 70.6 percent to US$221.65 billion during the same period.

Keeping its top spot, the European Union (EU) was the country’s largest trading partner with a total two-way trade reaching US$243.14 billion, an increase of 27.9 percent from last year’s figures.

China’s exports to the region increased by 27.1 percent to US$165.04 billion along with imports growing by 29.8 percent to US$78.1 billion with a trade surplus of US$86.94 billion, up by 24.9 percent year on year.

After the EU, the United States is China’s second largest trade partner. Trade between the two grew by 9.9 percent to US$140.39 billion with a trade surplus of US$91.67 billion, an increase of 3.8 percent year on year.

Japan follows as its third top trading partner with bilateral trade worth US$154.93 billion and a reported increase of 19.2 percent. China’s exports to Japan amounted to US$65.48 billion, up 15.9 percent, while imports reached US$89.45 billion with a trade deficit of US$23.98 billion.

The country imported 24.94 million tons of coal in the first seven months of the year with the average price increasing by 51.9 percent to US$70 dollars per tonnage. Other imports like soy bean grew to 20.73 million tons with average prices up by 78 percent to US$591.70 dollars per ton.