China witnessed another month of healthy growth in its foreign trade in August, registering a 27.2 percent year-on-year rise, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.

Sources from the administration said the total foreign trade in August reached US$72.04 billion, including US$37.42 billion in exports and US$34.62 billion in imports.

The past month is the third one this year in which total foreign trade has exceeded US$70 billion, after April and July.

The total volume of foreign trade reached US$522.72 billion in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 36.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

China sold US$265.79 billion worth goods and services to international markets, a growth of 32.5 percent, while imports rose by 40 percent to US$256.93 billion.

The foreign trade surplus stood at US$8.86 billion in the first eight months, compared with US$17.9 billion last year.

Experts believed that with a faster growth in imports, the total surplus this year may only reach US$10 billion, compared with US$30 billion last year.

The customs statistics also showed that the processing industry also enjoyed a 30 percent increase in the first eight months at US$243.24 billion, including US$144.88 billion in exports and US$98.36 billion in imports.

Electrical and mechanical products continued to lead China's exports with a 41 percent growth.

The total volume amounted to US$134.29 billion, accounting for 50.5 percent of the country's total exports.

Trade with Japan reached US$83.5 billion with about one-third growth, while trade with the United States stood at US$78.53 billion, a 30 percent increase.

The European Union, China's third-largest trading partner, traded US$77.09 billion worth of products and services with China, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent in the first eight months of this year.

(China Daily September 13, 2003)