Foreign Trade Surges, Trade Surplus Narrows

BEIJING, Jan. 11 -- China's foreign trade surged 22.5 percent in 2011 from a year earlier to 3.64 trillion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Tuesday.

The country's annual trade surplus narrowed 14.5 percent year on year to 155.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, the administration said.

The figure has shrunk from 295.47 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, 196.07 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, and 183.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.

Exports rose 20.3 percent year on year to reach 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars last year, while imports grew 24.9 percent to 1.74 trillion U.S. dollars, the GAC said.

In December alone, the country's exports totaled 174.72 billion U.S. dollars, up 13.4 percent year on year. Imports increased 11.8 percent year on year to 158.2 billion U.S. dollars.