ASEAN-China Trade Soars to $161B in Jan-July
Total trade between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China reached $161 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 49.6% from a year earlier, the Vietnamese Trade Office in China said.
Of the sum, the ASEAN exported $84.26 billion from China, up 56.1% on-year, and imported $76.74 billion, up 43.2%.
The bloc reported a trade surplus of $7.52 billion with China during the period, compared to the modest figure of $400 million of the same period last year.
The ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) effective from early 2010 and the recovery of the global economy were mainly attributed to the strong increase in the bilateral trade.
Under the ACFTA, China will cancel taxes on 90% of goods imported from ASEAN countries in 2010, lowering the average tariffs on imports from ASEAN bloc to 0.1% from the current 9.8%.
Six ASEAN founding nations of Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will reduce the average tariffs on imports from China to 0.6% in 2010 from the current 12.8%.
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will apply tariff reduction from 2015.
Trade between Vietnam and China surged 48.9% from a year earlier to $15.36 billion in the Jan-Jul period, of which, the Southeast Asian nation reaped $3.63 billion from exports to China, up 44.5% on-year, and imported $11.72 billion, up 50.4%. (
www.ttnn.com.vn)
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