According to the statistics released by China's General Administration of Customs, China's trading volume for March totaled $162.02 billion in value, down 20.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Chinese exports came to $90.29 billion, down 17.1 percent, while imports reached $71.73 billion, down 25.1 percent. China's total trade surplus for the period in question stood at $18.56 billion, up 41.2 percent year on year.
On a year-on-year basis, China's trading volume, exports and imports in March were respectively down 20.9 percent, 17.1 percent and 25.1 percent, representing decreases of 6.3 percentage points, 4.0 percentage points and 9.1 percentage points compared with the growth rates recorded for the first two months of this year.
On a month-on-month basis, China's monthly imports for October, November and December 2008 were down 8.7 percent, 19.5 percent, and 16.2 percent respectively; meanwhile, imports for January and February this year declined 3.7 percent and 5.4 percent, with a month-on-month rise of 14.1 percent seen in March imports.
In March, China's average import price went down by 17.9 percent year on year, but climbed by 2.7 percent month on month. The recovery of the import price is expected to be very helpful as regards stabilizing production expectations and stimulating consumer confidence.
Meanwhile, China's imports and exports with its three biggest trading partners surged considerably. In March, the value of trade between China and the European Union totaled $26.45 billion, down 19.3 percent year on year and up 21.1 percent month on month. The trading volume between China and the US was worth $22.65 billion, down 12.6 percent year on year and up 25.8 percent month on month. Finally, Japan remained China's third largest trading partner, with bilateral trade falling 20.5 percent year on year to $28.56 billion, but up 19.1 percent month on month.