Foreign trade grows 37.1 percent during January-May

China's foreign trade totaled 423.84 billion US dollars during the first five months of this year, up 37.1 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

The figure included exports worth 207.59 billion US dollars, and 216.25 billion US dollars in imports.

China exported 113.59 billion US dollars worth of machinery and electronic goods in the five months, up 44.2 percent, which accounted for 54.7 percent of the country's total exports.

Of all the machinery and electronic goods trade, machinery and equipment exports totaled 42.94 billion US dollars, up 49.3 percent, while imports were 35.32 billion US dollars, up 30.5 percent.

The value of exported electric and electronic goods was 45.01 billion US dollars, up 48.8 percent, while that of the same imported items was 52.1 billion US dollars, up 42.4 percent.

Exports of China's traditional export items in large volumes remained strong during the period.

China exported 20.8 billion US dollars worth of garments, up 20.9 percent, 12.63 billion US dollars worth of yarn for textile, fabric and products made of yarn and fabric, up 24 percent, and 5.69 billion US dollars worth of shoes, up 15.4 percent.

Of imported goods, China posted a decrease in soybeans in May, and slower growth in iron ore and steel imports due to the country's efforts to cool overheating investment in iron and steel sectors and some construction projects.

China imported 45.32 billion US dollars of primary goods duringthe five months, up 62 percent, including 2.74 million tons of cooking vegetable oil, up 78.8 percent and 7.48 million tons of soybean, down by 2.4 percent.

Imports of crude oil totaled 49.76 million tons, up 37.7 percent, and imports of iron ore stood at 81.54 million tons, up 33.7 percent.

Source: Xinhua