China's foreign trade volume grew in the first 11 months this year to US$560.18 billion, up 21 percent from the same period last year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said here Thursday.
GAC figures show that exports from January to November rose 21.6 percent to US$293.69 billion and import grew 20.5 percent to US$266.49 billion, leaving a trade surplus of US$27.2 billion.
In November, the trade volume reached US$59.95 billion, up 33.7 percent year-on-year. Of the total, export was valued at US$31.21 billion, up 30 percent, while import reached US$28.74 billion, a rise of 37.9 percent.
In the first 11 months, primary product exports increased by 20.4 percent to US$122.48 billion, while primary products imports grew 12.7 percent to US$116.34 billion. The primary product trade stood at US$238.82 billion, up 16.5 percent.
The period also witnessed a stable rise in the volume of processing trade. Statistics show that the exports and imports of foreign-funded firms soared and foreign trade of state-owned enterprises began to grow at a faster speed.
China's exports of machinery and electronic products as well as traditional staple goods grew rapidly, indicate the GAC statistics, and imports of raw products went up at a faster rate.
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2002)
