¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China's imports grew 40.6 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year, 8.1 percentage points higher than the growth in exports, according to statistics of the General Administration of Customs.

¡¡¡¡The total volume of imports stood at 256.9 billion US dollars in the period, an average of 32.1 billion for a month and a record34.62 billion for August, statistics show.

¡¡¡¡Major imports included machinery and electrical products, steelproducts, crude, refined oil, soybeans, automotive products and iron ore.

¡¡¡¡In the first eight months, China imported crude valued at 12.51billion US dollars, up 57.9 percent, refined oil at 3.87 billion dollars, up 85.4 percent, steel products at 13.21 billion dollars,up 62.9 percent, and automotive products at a record 9.31 billion dollars, up 94.7 percent, according to the statistics.

¡¡¡¡Sources from the Generial Administration of Customs attributed the increase of China's imports to the rapid development of its economy, and the policy of further opening up its market, expanding domestic demand, and cutting customs duties following its entry into the WTO.

¡¡¡¡The trade surplus this year is expected to be lower than last year's 30.3 billion US dollars, since China maintains a faster growth rate in imports than exports. Enditem