BEIJING, Dec. 18-- China's exports for the Christmas season have taken a hit amid the financial crisis, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday.
From January to October, Christmas-related exports stood at 1.64 billion U.S. dollars, up just 8.3 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 32 percentage points below the year-earlier level.
In the July-October period, when exports for Christmas usually peak, China exported 1.28 billion U.S. dollars worth of such goods, up 3.6 percent. The growth rate was down 38.9 percentage points.
Of the total, 46.1 percent, or 590 million U.S. dollars, went to the United States in the four-month period, down 2.8 percent. In 2007, the year-on-year change was up 39.3 percent.
The United States and the European Union are major markets for China's Christmas-related exports. The two markets accounted for 76.8 percent of China's total in the first 10 months of this year.