UpdateChina Dec trade surplus widens to $16.5bn from Nov

10 January 2012 07:29  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s trade surplus widened to $16.5bn (€12.9bn) in December last year from the previous month as exports grew faster than imports, official data showed on Tuesday.

In November, the country's trade surplus stood at $14.5bn, data from China Customs showed.

Exports rose 13.4% year on year to $174.7bn in December, slightly slower than the 13.8% growth posted in November, according to the data

Imports, on the other hand, increased by 11.8% to $158.2bn in December, nearly halving the 22.1% growth recorded in the previous month, the data showed.

For the whole of 2011, exports rose 20.3% year on year to $1,899bn, while imports grew by 24.9% to $1,743bn, according to China Customs data.

China’s imports of crude oil rose 6% year on year to 253m tonnes in 2011, according to the data.

The country’s imports of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins fell by 14.7% year on year to 1.9m tonnes, while imports of polyester chips dropped by 17.2% to 196,912 tonnes, the data showed.

China’s imports of natural rubber fell by 12.9% year on year to 2.1m tonnes in 2011, while shipments of synthetic rubber into the country fell 7.7% to 1.4m tonnes, it showed.

In 2011, the country’s imports of primary plastics fell by 3.7% year on year to 23m tonnes, while exports of plastic products rose 7.1% to 8m tonnes, the data showed.

($1 = €0.78)

Additional reporting by Fanny Zhang

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