China trade surplus rises 13.5% in Oct

China's wholesale food prices rose 8.6% in October, the highest monthly growth rate so far this year, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

According to the NBS statement, the producer price index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in October, the highest level in nine months.

In a breakdown, clothing prices rose 1.3%, and the prices of general daily necessities grew 1.9% in the month.

In the first 10 months, wholesale food prices were on a rising trend, growing 4.8% in January, 5% in February, 5.2% in March, 5.5% in April, 6.3% in May, 6.7% in June, 7.8% in July, 8.6% in August, 8.2% in September, and 8.6% in October.

Trade surplus rises 13.5% in October

China's trade surplus in October rose 13.5 percent over the same month last year to US$27.05 billion, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

The figure was slightly higher than the US$ 23.91 billion in September and lower than the average US$30.6 billion predicted by large financial institutions such as Bank of China (Hong Kong) and JP Morgan Chase.

In October, exports reached US$107.73 billion, up 22.3 percent year-on-year yet down 0.5 percentage points over September. Imports grew to US$80.67 billion, up 25.5 percent or 9.4 percentage points higher than September.

Trade surplus in the first ten months amounted to US$212.36 billion, up 59 percent. The growth rate was 10.2 percentage points lower than the first nine months.

China's trade volume totaled US$1.76 trillion for the first ten months of 2007, up 23.5 percent on last year. The growth rate was the same as September, according to the report.

The administration said in its monthly report, "The slowdown in export growth and a steady increase in import reflected the country's efforts to improve foreign trade have begun to pay off."

Exports in the first ten months reached US$985.84 billion, up 26.5 percent year-on-year and imports grew 19.8 percent to US$773.48 billion.