Beijing, May 22: China's foreign trade is expected to grow 17 per cent this year and the volume will cross an all-time high of 1,000 billion US dollars, a report released by the ministry of commerce said. The report on the trade and investment environment of foreign countries in 2004 said the trade volume of imports and exports will reach or surpass 1,000 billion us dollars, up 17 per cent over last year. The trade volume of exports will reach 505 billion dollars and the imports will reach 495 billion dollars, up 15 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. The report said China's foreign trade in 2003 maintained the momentum it had since the latter half of 2002 and China has become the fourth largest trade country in the world.
But the complicated international situations have posed a threat to the global economy and the prices of raw materials in china continued to increase. This can affect the export, the report said.
At present the imports also continue to increase for large domestic demands but it will depend on the development of investment and the effect of the macro-regulation of the government. Bureau Report