MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China's trade soaring: 969 billion exports last year

China's trade surplus in 2006 reached a mind bogging 177.5 billion US dollars compared to 102 billion in 2005, reported Wednesday the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

December's surplus totaled 21 billion US dollars against 22.9 billion in November and a record 23.8 billion in October. According to Xinhua quoting Chinese Customs figures exports last year totaled 969 billion US dollars, up 27.2%, while imports soared 20% to 791.6 billion US dollars. December's numbers indicate exports for 94 billion US dollars and imports 73 billion, representing a 25% and 13.5% increase over the same month in 2005. On Wednesday the US Department of Commerce revealed that Asia's trade surplus with the US in November dropped 8.7% to 33.4 billion US dollars. In the first eleven months of 2006, the accumulated surplus totaled 333.38 billion compared to 301.5 billion in the same period of 2005. Asian countries account for almost 42% of the US trade deficit with one country only, China representing 25% of total deficit. The US Commerce Department revealed that China's surplus with the US in eleven months of 2006 was 213.549 billion compared to the 185.32 billion US dollars of the same period in 2005. Japan's surplus in November dropped from 8.25 billion US dollars in 2005 to 7.9 billion in 2006 totaling 80.98 billion in eleven months of last year compared to 75.78 billion in the same period of 2005. Newly Industrialized Countries, (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan) manager in November a surplus of 422 million US dollars, four times less that the 1.56 billion of the previous month. In the first eleven months of 2006 the group totaled a surplus of 12.8 billion US dollars compared to the 16.7 billion of the same period in 2005.