China's foreign trade up 8.8 % in first five months

China's trade of goods rose by 8.8 per cent year on year to 11.63 trillion yuan (about 1.82 trillion US dollars) in the first five months of 2018, according to official data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) released on Friday.

Exports of cargo trade rose by 5.5 per cent year on year to 6.14 trillion yuan (approx. 0.96 trillion US dollars) in the January-May period while imports grew by 12.6 per cent to 5.49 trillion yuan (approx. 0.86 trillion U.S. dollars).

The numbers resulted in a trade surplus of 649.8 billion yuan, which narrowed by 31 per cent when compared to the same period last year, according to the GAC.

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"Since the beginning of this year, China’s imports and exports have continued along a healthy trend towards stable growth and maintained relatively fast growth in the first five months. Meanwhile, domestic demand has been growing and the country has actively expanded imports, so the trade surplus has narrowed, and trade of goods has moved towards a more balanced development," said Huang Songping, the director of the GAC Department of Statistics.

In the first five months, the European Union (EU) remained China's top trade partner, with trade volume between the two sides increasing by 7.3 per cent to 1.7 trillion yuan (approx. 265.3 billion U.S. dollars). That number is followed by that of the United States at 1.57 trillion yuan (approx. 245.0 billion US dollars) and then the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at 1.49 trillion yuan (approx. 232.5 billion U.S. dollars).

China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road registered faster-than-average growth, with the trade volume standing at 3.21 trillion yuan, up 11.1 per cent from last year.