The European Union (EU) is set to become China's biggest investment and trading partner, according to figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the nation's Customs.

This prediction comes as the Sino-EU trade volume maintains a growth rate of over 30 percent.

Sino-EU trade hit US$111.64 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 36.6 per cent year-on-year. Of which, China's exports amounted to US$65.47 billion and imports were US$46.17 billion, up 39 percent and 33.4 percent respectively, figures from Chinese Customs show. Bilateral trade totaled US$125.22 billion last year.

China's exports to the EU mainly comprise machinery and electronic products, high-tech products, as well as textile, garments, toys, shoes, bags and plastic products and imports from its capital-intensive goods, automobile parts, steel, machinery equipment, airplanes, industrial raw material and transport facilities.

On May 1, 2004, the EU expanded its membership from 15 to 25 countries, thus becoming China's largest trade partner and technology provider and the fourth largest investor. China is the EU's second biggest trade partner. The EU's investment in the Chinese mainland has ranked the fourth following the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States and Japan.

The EU had established 18,000 enterprises in China and its contractual investment totaled US$71.27 billion by the end of August this year, with the actual investment reaching US$40.97 billion.

The EU had invested in 1,522 projects in China from January to August this year with a contractual value of US$4.46 billion, Ministry of Commerce figures indicate.

The EU has introduced 1,393 items of technology into China in the first eight months with a contractual value of US$3.65 billion.

(China Daily October 6, 2004)