BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's imports and exports fell 10.7 percent in October year on year, but monthly exports exceeded100 billion U.S. dollars for a fourth straight month this year, the General Administration of Customs announced Wednesday.
Imports stood at 86.8 billion U.S. dollars for October, a decrease of 6.4 percent compared with the same month last year, while exports dropped 13.8 percent to 110.8 billion U.S. dollars.
From January to October, the country's imports and exports totaled 1.76 trillion U.S. dollars, down 19.9 percent compared with the same period last year.
Imports for the first 10 months were 798.13 billion U.S. dollars, down 19 percent year on year; exports declined 20.5 percent to 957.36 billion U.S. dollars.
The trade surplus for the first 10 months was down 27.2 percent at 159.23 billion U.S. dollars.
The EU was China's biggest trading partner for this period, though bilateral trade declined 18.7 percent to 292.42 billion U.S. dollars in value; the U.S. was second with bilateral trade at239.36 billion U.S. dollars, down 14.9 percent; Japan followed with bilateral trade down 19.3 percent at 182.34 billion U.S. dollars.
Exports dropped 13.8 percent in October year on year, the smallest decline rate since January. In September, the rate was 15.2 percent.
"This suggests improving demand from overseas," said Zhang Junsheng, an international trade expert with the University of International Business and Economics, while forecasting exports would continue the downward trend until the first quarter next year.
Exports of labor-intensive products for the first 10 months showed a lower rate of decline than the average 20.5 percent drop in exports, the administration said.
In the year to October, the export value of garments dropped 10.9 percent, textiles were down 12.9 percent, and shoes fell 6 percent.
Meanwhile, imports of crude oil rose 9.4 percent, steel was up 10.3 percent, and iron ore increased by 36.8 percent, despite the 19-percent drop in total value of imports.
Zhang said this was because of rising industrial output and urban fixed-asset investment, which required more imports of some bulk stocks.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced Wednesday that industrial output of the world's third largest economy increased 9.4 percent year on year over first 10 months, and urban fixed-asset investment rose 33.1 percent to 15.07 trillion yuan (2.21 trillion U.S. dollars).
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a press conference Thursday. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI),a main gauge of inflation, dipped 1.1 percent year on year in thefirst nine months of this year, the National Bureau of Statisticssaid Thursday.
The September CPI was up 0.4 percent from the previous month. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI),a major measurement of inflation at the wholesale level, dropped 6.5 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
The September PPI rose 0.6 percent from a month earlier. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's fixed-assets investment rose by 33.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2009, the National Bureau of Statistics announced here Thursday.
The figure was 6.4 percentage points higher than that of last year. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial output rose 12.4 percent in the third quarter this year from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a press conference here Thursday.
The figure increased 8.7 percent year on year in the first nine months. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales in the first three quarters rose 15.1 percent year on year, or 17 percent after deducting price factors, to top 8.97 trillion yuan (1.31 trillion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. Full story
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