China's monthly trade surplus was narrowed to US$15.3 billion in
September from the record high of US$18.8 billion in August.
But the surplus in September is still the second largest in the
first three quarters, the General Administration of Customs said
yesterday in releasing the statistics.
It brought the country's trade surplus to US$109.9 billion in
the first nine months, exceeding the US$101.9 billion for all of
2005.
Exports totalled US$91.64 billion in September, up 30.6 percent
from the same month a year earlier, and imports rose 22 percent
year on year to US$76.34 billion.
Economists had forecast about 28 percent rise for exports and 20
percent rise for imports.
According to the country's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) for
commerce development, which was released recently, China will
strive to achieve a balance between exports and imports.
In a bid to keep trade balanced, the Chinese Government should
encourage more imports instead of merely dampening exports,
suggested Shen Danyang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of
International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think tank under
the Ministry of Commerce.
He said a decline in the growth rate of exports would result in
a slowdown of GDP growth and loss of thousands of jobs.
"Increases in imports promote economic growth and create jobs
and tax income although they might exert pressure on some
industries or sectors," Shen said.
China's growing trade surplus has been a sore point in its
relations with its major trade partners, especially the United
States, and has added pressure on the country to allow the value of
the renminbi to rise.
Import increase is expected to help reduce pressure on the
renminbi to appreciate, Shen said.
A Ministry of Commerce official, who declined to be identified,
said that "growth in processing trade, which now accounts for about
half of the exports, is expected to slow down in the next five
years."
The country has done US$1.27 trillion in foreign trade from
January to September, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 24.3
percent.
The average annual growth rate of foreign trade from 2001 to
2005 was 24 percent. Foreign trade is targeted to grow at around 10
percent year-on-year in the next five years with total imports and
exports hitting US$2.3 trillion in 2010.
The European Union remained the largest trade partner of China,
with a bilateral trade volume of US$194.4 billion in the first
three quarters, according to the customs administration. Then come
the United States, Japan and the Association of South East Asian
Nations.
Coastal regions, such as Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces and
Shanghai, topped other regions in foreign trade.
(China Daily October 13, 2006)