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China's imports and exports increased by a fifth year-on-year to US$620.79 billion last year, according to customs statistics released yesterday.
Exports rose 22.3 percent to US$325.57 billion and imports grew 21.2 percent to US$295.22 billion. China's trade surplus stood at US$30.35 billion.
Processing trade increased 25.2 percent year-on-year to US$302.17 billion, making up 48.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
Imports and exports of collectively owned and private companies, which have been able to trade overseas after China's entry to the WTO in late 2001, increased 57.1 percent to US$53.22 billion.
Machinery and electronic products led the growth in exports, and exports of traditional, labor-intensive products have also bounced back, customs statistics show.
Meanwhile, China's farm-produce exports hit a record high last year. Corn exports reached 9.77 million tons by November, jumping 83 percent year-on-year, the latest customs statistics show.
Although figures on agricultural exports for the whole year of 2002 are not yet available, the volume had already exceeded US$12.62 billion by September, leaving a surplus of US$3.88 billion.
China's foreign trade with Japan, its largest trading partner, reached US$101.91 billion. The United States and European Union ranked second and third in terms of total trade volume with China, exporting and importing US$97.18 billion and US$86.76 billion with China last year respectively.
(Edited by china.org.cn January 10, 2003)
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