China Trade Surplus with EU Erodes

飞雪寒冰

China's trade surplus with the European Union, its largest trading partner, will fall significantly in 2009 as the global financial crisis deepens, a Ministry of Commerce official said on Aug. 31.

Speaking at a news conference, Sun Yongfu, director of the ministry's department of European affairs, said China-EU trade was becoming more balanced.

Sun urged EU member nations to abandon protectionist measures, saying that some of the 12 anti-dumping investigations launched by the EU against China since last July are “obviously in violation of World Trade Organization rules.”

Trade frictions between China and the EU are controllable as both have sound mechanisms for achieving resolution, Sun said.

飞雪寒冰

Trade between China and the EU in the first seven months fell 20.7 percent year-on-year to US$192.7 billion. China's trade surplus with the EU dropped 36 percent to US$55.7 billion, according to customs data.

Meanwhile, EU investment in China was slightly lower during first six months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.

In the first half of 2009, projects in China funded by the EU totaled 747, with US$ 4.06 billion in contracted investment, down 2 percent from a year earlier. Actual EU investment totaled US$ 2.55 billion yuan, down 2.6 percent year-on-year.