China has become the second largest trade partner of the European Union (EU) only after the United States, moving up from the fourth place in 1999, according to a report issued on Friday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the 25-naiton bloc.

China accounted for 5 percent of EU exports and 12 percent of EU imports in 2004, which amounted to 48 billion euros (58 billion US dollars) and 127 billion euros (153 billion US dollars) respectively.

The Sino-EU trade was concentrated on manufactured goods, said the Eurostat, which issued the latest data on the eve of the Sino-EU summit in Beijing next Monday.

Almost two-thirds of the commodities exported to China were "Machinery and vehicles" and one-fifth were "other manufactured articles", while imports of manufactured goods even had a larger share.

Among the 25 EU member states, Germany was the largest exporter thus far in 2004, with 21 billion euros (26 billion US dollars) and a share of 44 percent of EU's total exports to China, followed by France (11 percent) and Italy (9 percent).

Imports from China to EU were not as concentrated as the exports. Germany (22 percent) was the largest importer, followed by the United Kingdom (16 percent) and the Netherlands (15 percent).

Source: Xinhua