The figures released on April 10 by the General Administration of Customs showed that China's import and export value hit US $457.74 billion from January to March, an increase of 23.3 percent on year-on-year basis. Exports were $252.09 billion, rising 27.7 percent; imports were $205.65 billion, up 18.2 percent.
Customs statistics showed that import and export value in March scored $159.99 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent. Trade surplus fell to $6.87 billion, the first dropping under $10 billion since March 2006. Trade surplus expanding momentum reduced remarkably.
China obtained an export growth of 6.9 percent, significantly lower than the growth rate of over 30 percent in the preceding two months; while imports reached $76.56 billion, increasing by 14.5 percent, still on a normal and stable level.
According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, EU was the largest trading partner, with bilateral trade in $75.39 billion, a growth of 30.3 percent, seven percent higher than the growth rate of the same period of China's overall trade development.
The US was China's second largest trade partner, with Sino-US bilateral trade value reaching $66.72 billion, an increase of 20.1 percent.
Trade surplus with the US posted an obvious decline, from $12.25 billion in February to about $9.5 billion in March. The slowdown in exports to EU countries stayed within normal fluctuation.
In March, export growth rates of steel, containers, aluminum ingots and other bulk commodities maintained at more than 100 percent, while textile and clothing exports fell sharply, which greatly affected the surplus size of the month.