China's foreign trade of electronics and information products reached 201 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year, a growth of 17.7 percent year-on-year.

The growth rate was 6 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, according to figures released by the Ministry of Industry and Information.

The total trade volume included 115.9 billion U.S. dollars in export value, up 20.2 percent, and 85.1 billion dollars in import value, up 14.5 percent.

The growth rate for exports was 7.4 percentage points lower than the same month of last year, while that for imports was 4.4 percentage points lower.

Of the total exports, wholly owned foreign companies accounted for 77.4 billion U.S. dollars, or 66.8 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2008)