BEIJING, July 13 -- China's foreign trade continued its robust growth in the first half of this year, but is expected to encounter obstacles in the coming months.

    Trade volume rose about 23.2 per cent year on year in the first six months this year to US$645 billion, the latest statistics from China's General Administration of Customs revealed.

    Exports from China grew to some US$342.3 billion in the first half of this year, a 32.7 per cent rise over the previous year; imports to China reached US$302.7 billion in this period, a year-on-year rise of 14 per cent.

    However, the outlook for the second half of the year is not so optimistic, said Gao Hong, an expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    "It is because the country's textile trade with the United States and the European Union might hit problems as the enterprises use up their quotas for the entire year," he said.

    China's trade with its major trading partners was strengthened during the first half of this year.

    The European Union is China's biggest trading partner, with its bilateral trade volume with China growing some 23.6 per cent to US$100.1 billion in the first half of the year.

    The United States and Japan take second and third place with trade volumes of US$96.3 billion and US$86.5 billion respectively.

    The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with whom China has adopted measures to facilitate the flow of trade of agriculture products under a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides, remains China's fourth biggest trade partner.

    "As China is scheduled to launch a new round of tariff reductions with the ASEAN trade bloc, beginning from July 20 in line with the FTA, the bilateral trade volume is expected to witness further increases in the second half of this year," Gao said.

    China had a trade surplus of US$39.6 billion in the first half of this year, while the surplus for June alone stood at US$9.7 billion.

    China's widening trade surplus has aroused concerns in other countries, in particular the United States.

    In fact, the two sides are seeking mutually satisfactory solutions to balance bilateral trade.

    The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade recently launched a project with the US Commerce Department in a bid to narrow China's trade surplus with the United States.

    Under this project, the two sides will establish agencies in some Chinese cities, which will take responsibility for helping US enterprises look for potential clients in China, as well as providing US businesses with information about China and promoting US exports to China.     

    (Source: China Daily)