MOFCOM: EU Was China's First Biggest Trade Partner in 2008

Data disclosed by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) at the routine press conference held this morning indicated that from January to December, 2008, European Union (EU) was China's first biggest trade partner, with total trade value of USD425.58b, accounting for 16.6% of the total foreign trade volume throughout the year, up by 19.5% year-on-year.
Data showed that from January to December, top ten trade partner countries and regions were as follows: EU (USD425.58b, accounting for 16.6% of the total foreign trade volume throughout the year, up by 19.5% year-on-year), US (USD333.74b, accounting for 13.0%, up by 10.5% year-on-year), Japan (USD266.79b, accounting for 10.4%, up by 13% year-on-year), ASEAN (USD231.12b, accounting for 9.0%, up by 13.9% year-on-year), Hong Kong (USD203.67b, accounting for 8.0%, up by 3.3% year-on-year), South Korea (USD186.11b, accounting for 7.3%, up by 16.2% year-on-year), Taiwan province (USD129.22b, accounting for 5.0%, up by 3.8% year-on-year), Australia (USD59.66b, accounting for 2.3%, up by 36.1% year-on-year), Russia (USD56.83b, accounting for 2.2%, up by 18.0% year-on-year) and India (USD51.78b, accounting for 2.0%, up by 34.0% year-on-year).