The total worth of China's imports is expected to exceed US$1.5 trillion from 2004 to 2006, said Deng Zhan, an official with the Ministry Commerce Tuesday.

China's imports have realized fast growth for the three consecutive years since 2001 and the scale of absorbing foreign investment has been further enlarged, said Wang Zhan at China Mining 2004 symposium that opened in Beijing Tuesday.

The imports volume of China reached US$412.8 billion in 2003, making it the third largest importer in the world. Besides, China absorbed US$53.5 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) last year, making it first in the world in FDI.

In the first nine months this year, China's imports have exceeded US$412.3 billion, up 38.2 percent over the same period last year. The number of foreign investment enterprises newly registered in the period rose 9.2 percent year-on-year to 32, 200, with actual foreign investment of US$48.69 billion, up 21 percent.

This year, China's imports are expected to exceed US$500 billion and China would absorb foreign investment of more than US$62 billion, said Wang.

The rapid growth in per capita income among the Chinese, one-fifth of the world population, has created huge purchasing power.

From 2001 to 2003, China imported commodities worth about US$1 trillion with an average annual increase of 22.4 percent, said Wang.

He said that it was estimated that by 2020 China's gross domestic products (GDP) would reach four trillion US dollars and the total worth of its domestic retailing of consumer goods would reach US$2.4 trillion.

By then, the China's annual imports would reach about US1 trillion and China would become the second largest market in the world, Wang said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2004)