China notched up a trade surplus of US$21.3 billion in the first four months this year, according to calculations based on the statistics published by China's Ministry of Commerce.

Trade volume for machinery and electronics products stood at US$22.04 billion from January to April, up 21.9 per cent from the previous year.

Exports of machinery and electronics products reached US$119.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34 per cent while imports of machinery and electronics products hit US$100.7 billion, up 10 per cent compared with a year earlier.

Trade surplus from machinery and electronics products stood at US$18.97 billion in this period, accounting for nearly 89.6 per cent the country's total.

Statistics for China's overall foreign trade is not yet available.

Based on the calculations of these figures, the country's trade volume hit US$414.8 billion in the first four months.

Exports increased to US$218 billion while imports hit US$196.7 billion.

The surplus in this period shows a sharp contrast with a deficit of about US$10.8 billion from one year earlier.

"It shows that the country's foreign trade retained in April the fast growth speed of the first quarter this year," said Gao Hong, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

However, some Chinese exporters, such as those involved in textile and garment trade fear trade frictions.

Despite these problems, Gao said, China was still expected to witness steady trade growth this year.

(China Daily May 14, 2005)