China's trade of machinery and electronic products grew at an annual rate of 20.3 percent to 306.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Wednesday.

The growth was two percentage points lower than that in the January to March period last year as the global economic slowdown reduced overseas orders for China-made goods.

The heaviest blizzards in five decades that hit large swathes of the country's southern and eastern regions from mid January to early February also contributed to the slower growth, analysts said.

Exports rose 23.1 percent to 181.4 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 59.3 percent of China's total exports. The rate was5.4 percentage points lower than a year ago and 1.7 percentage points higher than the growth of the nation's total exports from January to March.

Imports climbed 16.4 percent to 125.3 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 47.4 percent of the total imports. The rate was 1.5percentage points higher than the previous year, but 12.2 percentage points lower than the growth of the total imports in the first three months.

During the period, the trade value of the country's new- and high-tech products was up 15.5 percent to 172.9 billion U.S. dollars, the MOC stated.

Among the total, exports rose 17.4 percent to 92.7 billion U.S. dollars and imports jumped 13.4 percent to 80.1 billion U.S. dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2008)