According to the statistics released by China's General Administration of Customs, China's trading volume for the first two months of the current year totaled $266.77 billion in value, down 27.2 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Chinese exports came to $155.33 billion, down 21.1 percent, while imports reached $111.44 billion, down 34.2 percent. China's total trade surplus for the period in question stood at $43.89 billion, up 59.6 percent year on year.
China's total trading volume in February amounted to $124.95 billion, down 24.9 percent over the same period last year. Exports in February decreased 25.7 percent to $64.9 billion, while imports were down 24.1 percent to $60.05 billion.
In January-February 2009, the European Union (EU) continued to be China's biggest trading partner, with the trading value between the two sides totaling $48.78 billion, down 20.2 percent year on year. At the same time, the trading volume between China and the US, China's second largest partner, dropped 17.4 percent to $39.43 billion. Japan remained China's third largest trading partner, with bilateral trade falling 25.7 percent to $28.56 billion.