Import slowdown could bolster China’s trade surplus
Chinese media suggest that China's global trade surplus could surpass $70 billion in 2005, more than doubling the previous year's $32 billion. The media add that an expected rapid expansion in China's second-half trade surplus might put serious pressure on Beijing to revalue the yuan.. China's import growth slowed 13.7 percent in the first five months of the year as the country bought fewer energy supplies, raw materials and agricultural products. Rising international prices and weak demand for those products as the central government works to cool the economy were major factors behind the decline in imports.