China's customs tax revenues nationwide stood at 489.6 billion yuan (71.6 billion U.S. dollars) from January to June this year, up 35.6 percent year on year, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) said on Saturday.

This was mainly boosted by the strong import momentum in the first half of this year along with the quick economic development domestically, said the GACC.

Figures showed that the country imported goods valued at 567.57 billion U.S. dollars from January to June, up 30.6 percent year on year.

China's trade surplus fell to 99.03 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, down 11.8 percent from the same period last year.

China customs levied a total amount of taxes standing at 2.74 trillion yuan from 2003 to 2007, up 19.6 percent annually.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2008)