China's trade last year hit more than US$2 trillion for the first time after it expanded more than 20 percent for the sixth-straight year, the General Administration of Customs said today.
The value of imports and exports reached US$2.173 trillion last year, increasing 23.5 percent from 2006. Exports accelerated 25.7 percent to US$1.218 trillion, 1.5 percentage points slower than in 2006, while imports climbed 20.8 percent to US$955.8 billion, with the rate increasing 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier.
The nation's trade surplus accumulated to a record US$262.2 billion for 2007, adding pressure to the government as it tries to absorb excess liquidity on the market and appreciate the yuan.
But in December, the surplus narrowed to US$22.69 billion from US$26.2 billion in November, a 14.2 percent decline.
''China has levied taxes and cut rebates on exports while charging less import taxes to adjust the nation's trade structure. The growth rate of overall trade began to slow down in the later half of 2007 with imports rising substantially to balance the surplus,'' China Customs said in a statement.
However, some analysts expressed concern about the economy as trade growth has not been controlled effectively.
''If exports slow in China, you'll see a lot of overcapacity, you'll see margins collapse, you'll see deflation and you'll see a lot of non-performing loans,'' said Huang Yiping, chief Asia economist at Citigroup Inc, according to Bloomberg News.
Stephen Green, head of research with Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd, said ''a US slowdown will hit China's other exports market too -- and that we think will likely have a knock on impact upon China's own investment growth.
On Wednesday, the World Bank forecast China's economy will slow this year, though it will remain the engine of economic growth in Asia Pacific.
The European Union remained China's biggest trade partner last year with bilateral trade of US$356.1 billion, followed by the United States at US$302 billion and Japan at US$236 billion.
(Shanghai Daily January 11, 2008)