China's exports grew by an unexpected 17.7 percent year-on-year in December, reaching a total of 130.73 billion US dollars. The figure was well above analysts expectations and was matched by a big jump in import figures which expanded to
112.29 billion US dollars, a 55.9 percent gain on last December's figure.

The combined trade figure of 243.02 billion US dollars was 32.7% higher than the amount traded the previous December,  according to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs.
 
Despite the huge jump in December's figures, the 2.2 trillion US dollars worth of combined imports and exports traded throughout the whole of 2009 was still down 13.9 percent on the amount traded the previous year and only slightly higher that the amount traded throughout 2007.
 
Exports totaled 1.2 trillion US dollars, down 16 percent and imports were valued at 1 trillion, down by 11.2 percent on the previous year. The resulting trade surplus of 196.07 billion US dollars, marked a 34.2 percent reduction on that registered in 2008.
 


Hit hard by the drop off in external demand brought about by the global financial crisis, China's exports began to tumble in November 2008. Things began to turn around again in March of 2009, but it's only now that the total value of imports and exports have started to grow at a rate similar to that in the pre-crisis months of 2008.
 
The large jump in imports has been helped along by the sizable stimulus package launched by China's central government in November 2008.

The EU remained China's largest trading partner in 2009 with the value of bilateral trade between to two reaching 364.09 billion US dollars. The US and Japan filled out the top three, with bilateral trade valued at 298.26 billion and 228.85 billion US dollars respectively. All three regions witnessed a drop of over 10 percent in terms of  the value of bilateral trade with China. 
 
Over the past year, China imported 630 million ton of iron ore, a 41.6 percent jump on the amount imported in 2008. The iron ore was purchased at an average price of 79.9 US dollars per ton, down 41.7 percent compared to the average price paid the previous year.

China imported 200 million tons of crude oil and 42.55 million tons of soybean over 2009, a rise of 13.9 and 13.7 percent respectively, though the average price paid for both of the commodities decreased by 39.4 and 24.3 percent respectively.
 
China also imported 419,000 cars last year, up 2.8 percent on the number imported during 2008.
 
Fiscal Revenue Grows by 11.7% in 2009

Meanwhile, according to China's Minister of Finance, China collected 6.8477 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue over 2009,a jump of 11.7% over the 2008 figure. Revenue exceeded the original target set at the start of the year by 224.7 billion yuan.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the rate of fiscal revenue growth began picking up in August 2009, helped along by the central government's stimulus measures, reform of the fuel tax system and also the fact that the growth was being measured against the relatively weak figures recorded in late 2008.
 
Links and Sources
General Administration of Customs: Report (Chinese)
Ministry of Finance: Report (Chinese)
Wall Street Journal: Graphic