BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China's annual foreign trade in 2003 is expected to hit 840 billion US dollars, up 35 percent year-on-year, a senior trade official said here Sunday.

    Yu Guangzhou, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce predicted the annual growth of retail volume would be nine percent, accounting for 45 percent of the gross domestic products.

    In the January-November period, China's imports amounted to 410 billion US dollars, while exports were 430 billion US dollars. Exports contributed 25 percent to the national industrial added value.

    Employees in the soaring domestic and foreign trade sectors made up 10 percent of the total work force, including 50 million in retail, wholesale and catering, and 23.5 million in foreign-funded enterprises. Enditem