According to the statistics released by the Information Office with Ministry of Commerce on China's foreign trade, the total volume of foreign trade in the first five months this year stands at 522.78 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.2 percent.

The export takes up 276.4 billion US dollars, up 33.2 percent from last year; the import yields 246.38 billion US dollars, an increase of 13.7 percent from last year.

EU continues to be China's biggest trading partner in the first five months with Sino-EU bilateral trade volume hitting 81.84 billion US dollars, up 24.2 percent. The US is China's second largest trading partner, with Sino-US bilateral trade reaching 77.7 billion US dollars in the first five months this year, up 24.6 percent. Japan was the third with Sino-Japan bilateral trade yielding 70.72 billion US dollars in the first five months, up 10.1 percent. ASEAN became China's fourth largest trading partner, with the total bilateral trade topping 48.56 billion US dollars in the first five months, up 25.8 percent.

The regional statistics shows that Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai municipality occupied the top three places of foreign trade respectively. In the first five months, Guangdong imported and export ed 150.58 billion US dollars, up 16 percent, accounting for 28.8 percent of the nation's total.

The mechanical and electrical products occupied the leading position among all the commodities exported. In the first five months, the export of mechanical and electrical products recorded 151.61 billion US dollars, up 33.5 percent, taking up 54.9 percent of the nation's total; export of garment and related accessory reached 24.39 billion US dollars, up 17.2 percent; yarn and textile products export valued 15.49 billion yuan, increasing by 22.8 percent.

By People's Daily Online