The European Union (hereinafter referred to as the EU) continued to be the largest trading partner of China in 2005, and was China's fourth largest investor; while China was the second largest trading partner of the EU (second to the United States). According to the China Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and the EU in 2005 reached US$217.31 billion, up by 22.6 percent year on year, among which China's export to the EU was US$143.71 billion, up by 34.1 percent year on year, while China's import from the EU was US$73.60 billion, up by 5.0 percent year on year. China had a surplus of US$70.11 billion. China mainly exported electrical appliances and electronic products, machinery, wool and textile products, knitwear, toys, furniture, footwear, optical and photographic equipment, leather products, bags and cases, iron and steel products, plastics, organic chemicals, etc. Main imports from the EU included machinery, electrical appliances and electronic products, airplanes, autos and auto parts, optical, photographic and medical equipment, plastics, organic chemicals, iron and steel products, copper and copper products, etc. Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and Italy were the major trading partners of China among the EU Member States. The trade with these five countries reached US$155.82 billion, accounting for 71.7 percent of the total bilateral trade between China and the EU.
According to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred as MOFCOM), the turnover of completed engineering contracts by Chinese companies in the EU reached US$910 million in 2005, and the volume of the newly signed contracts was US$840 million. The volume of completed labor service cooperation contracts was US$100 million, and that of the newly signed labor service cooperation contracts was US$85.42 million. Since 1976, the accumulated turnover of engineering contracts completed by the Chinese companies in the EU has reached US$3.01 billion, with that of all the contracts signed being US$3.56 billion, and the volume of the completed labor service contracts has reached US$970 million, with that of the total contracts signed being US$1.13 billion.
Approved by or registered with MOFCOM, 77 Chinese-funded non-financial enterprises were set up in the EU in 2005, with a total contractual investment of US$280 million from the Chinese side. By the end of 2005, accumulatively 672 Chinese-funded enterprises had been set up in the EU with a total contractual investment of US$1.08 billion from the Chinese side.
Statistics of MOFCOM show the EU invested in 2942 projects in China in 2005, an increase of 16.3 percent year on year, with a contractual investment of US$11.99 billion, up by 39.9 percent year on year, and an actual utilization of US$5.26 billion, up by 21.5 percent year on year. By the end of 2005, the EU had accumulatively invested in 22,680 FDI projects in China with a contractual investment of US$87.37 billion and an actual paid-up capital of US$47.78 billion.
