BEIJING - China's foreign trade last year jumped 34.7 percent year on year to more than 2.97 trillion US dollars while its trade surplus fell 6.4 percent to 183.1 billion US dollars, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday.
The country's exports grew 31.3 percent year on year last year to 1.58 trillion US dollars while imports surged 38.7 percent to 1.39 trillion US dollars, said the GAC.
"China's foreign trade is, in general, heading towards a balanced structure," said the GAC in a statement on its website.
The trade surplus accounted for 6.2 percent of all foreign trade last year, down from 8.9 percent in 2009 and 11.6 percent in 2008.
In December, foreign trade hit a record 295.2 billion U.S. dollars, representing year-on-year growth of 21.4 percent and a month-on-month rise of 4 percent.
The European Union remained China's largest trade partner in 2010, with EU-China trade up 31.8 percent year on year to 479.71 billion U.S. dollars.
Trade with the United States rose 29.2 percent year on year to 385.34 billion U.S. dollars while China-Japan trade jumped 30.2 percent year on year to 297.77 billion US dollars.
Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) surged 37.5 percent to 292.78 billion U.S.dollars after a free trade area was launched between the two regions at the start of 2010.
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement on its website Monday that foreign trade last year was "better-than-expected."
The statement cited Li Jian, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, an MOC affiliate, as saying the strong growth in foreign trade was due to the recovery in global demand, government efforts to maintain export growth and the low comparison basis of 2009.
Li told Xinhua he believed China would continue to boost imports this year by cutting import duties, subsidizing interest payments on loans for imports of high-end equipment, and facilitating imports.
He estimated China's imports would grow by 10 percent to 20 percent this year.
