China foreign trade to top $840b: Vice Minister
China foreign trade to top $840b: Vice Minister
Beijing, Agence France-Presse
China's foreign trade is expected to top US$840 billion this
year, up 35 percent from 2002 and making the nation the world's
fourth biggest trader, a leading trade official said on Sunday.
According to vice trade minister Yu Guangzhou, China's exports
will top $430 billion, while imports will be valued at about $410
billion this year, the China News Service reported.
Yu, speaking at a nationwide trade meeting, said China's
dynamic trade performance was based on the country's fast-paced
economic growth, a domestic market with a large potential and a
cheap labor force that is becoming stronger and more skilled.
Adjustments in global demand and supply were also benefiting
China, while China was also importing more goods to feed a
growing domestic consumer market, he said.
China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has also
boosted trade as it resulted in China's import tariffs falling
and non-tariff measures being removed, he added.
China's economy is expected to grow by 8.5 percent this year.
By becoming the world's fourth largest trading nation, China
will overtake France, leaving it behind only the United States,
Japan and Germany.
Yu's comments marked the second time this month that a vice
minister of trade predicted that China would become the world's
fourth largest trading nation this year.
However, China's figures appeared to be a narrower tabulation
of numbers and do not include trade in services.
Yu also said that actual foreign direct investment (FDI) into
China during the first 11 months of the year reached $47.2
billion, while FDI for the entire year was expected to be about
equal to last year's $52.7 billion.
China's total exports in the first 11 months were valued at
$390 billion, up 32.9 percent year-on-year, while imports rose
39.1 percent year-on-year to $370.6 billion, the General
Administration of Customs reported earlier this month.
China's imports for November were valued at $36.8 billion,
while exports totaled $41.7 billion.
According to figures from the WTO, China was the world's fifth
largest merchandise exporter in 2002 with $325.6 billion. That
put it right behind France, with $331.8 billion, and well ahead
of Britain, with $279.6 billion.