China's trade surplus up 42.9% in June

BEIJING: China's trade surplus rose 42.9 per cent year-on-year in June as demand from emerging markets offset stagnation in the eurozone and Japan, the government said Tuesday.

Exports for June were US$180.21 billion, up 11.3 per cent year-on-year, while imports rose 6.3 per cent to reach US$148.48 billion, the General Administration of Customs said.

This brought the surplus for June to US$31.73 billion, up 42.9 per cent from the same month in 2011, the customs bureau said in a statement.

Customs spokesman Zheng Yuesheng said China would be able to achieve its goal of 10-per cent growth in both imports and exports this year if the financial crisis in Europe did not worsen.

He attributed this partly to a diversification strategy to emerging markets.

"Trade growth almost stagnated with the EU, Japan and other traditional markets, but steadily grew with emerging markets," Zheng told reporters.

Exports for the first six months of the year climbed 9.2 per cent to US$954.38 billion, while imports rose 6.7 per cent to US$885.46 billion, according to the statement.

The trade surplus for the first half was US$68.92 billion, up 56.4 from the same period a year earlier, the statement said.

- CNA/ck

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1212648/1/.html

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