China's trade with the United States took the blunt of the financial crisis to slow down in the first 11 months of 2008, the General Administration of Customs said on Saturday.

Between January and November last year, the bilateral trade amounted to 307.82 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of 11.6 percent on the same period of 2007.

The growth rate was 3.9 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, or 9.3 percentage points below that for China's total external trade.

The bilateral trade volume included 233.09 billion U.S. dollars in export value, up 9.6 percent, and 74.73 billion dollars in import value, up 18.5 percent.

The growth rate for exports was 5.6 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, but that for imports was 1.6 percentage points higher.

China's trade surplus with the United States went up 5.8 percent to 158.36 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 61.9 percent of China's total trade surplus for the 11-month period.

The growth rate was 8.6 percentage points below the year-earlier level. The slowdown was due mainly to weakening demand in the United States after the financial crisis and to the appreciation of the Chinese currency, the customs administration said.

Foreign-funded companies made up 64.5 percent, or 198.66 billion U.S. dollars, of China's trade with the United States, up 9.5 percent. The growth rate was 7.6 percentage points lower.

Of China's exports to the United States, machines and electronics made up 61.6 percent, or 141.71 billion U.S. dollars worth, up 7.9 percent. The growth rate was eight percentage points slower.

Of 21 major categories of exports, four, including garments and telephones, reported decline.

For instance, export value in clothing and accessories was 17.24 billion U.S. dollars, down 1.1 percent. Registered exporters numbered 15,156, down from 17,021 a year ago.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2009)