During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), China's import and export volume has been growing at an average annual rate of 24 percent, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce.

In 2001, China's foreign trade volume only stood at US$509.6 billion, ranking the seventh in the world, but in 2005, the figure jumped to 1,400 billion dollars, ranking the third in the world.

 

Due to continuous trade surplus for years, China's foreign exchange reserve has exceeded US$800 billion.

 

The ratio of machinery, electronic goods and high-tech products in total trade has been growing all the time, and in 2005, the trade of such products surged 33.3 percent year on year, customs figures show.

 

About 86 million Chinese are working in fields related to foreign trade, figures show.

(CRI January 31, 2006)