The Bank of China said Wednesday it international trade clearing business surged by 41.8 percent in the first ten months of this year, with the total volume reaching 287.182 billion US dollars.

The ten-month volume overtook that for the whole year of 2003, and was more than twice that of 2000, said a bank spokesman.

By the end of September, the market share of the bank among all Chinese financial institutions in international trade clearing business stood at 31.25 percent.

The bank's trade financing business developed rapidly as well, the spokesman said. Last year, the bank's trade financing volume rose by 83 percent year on year, while in the first 10 months of this year, the strong growth momentum was maintained, with total financing volume overrunning the whole of last year and the growth rate exceeding 80 percent. The bank's interest income from trade financing was over 800 million yuan (96.74 million US dollars).

Source: Xinhua