2nd LD: China foreign trade decline expands in October

China's foreign trade dropped 9 percent year on year to 2.06 trillion yuan (324.62 billion U.S. dollars) in October, decreasing at a rate larger than the 8.8-percent contraction in September, official data showed on Sunday.

This was the eighth consecutive monthly decline in foreign trade in the world's second largest economy since March this year.

Exports dropped 3.6 percent to 1.23 trillion yuan and imports plunged 16 percent to 833.14 billion yuan. The trade surplus surged 40.2 percent to 393.22 billion yuan, the General Administration of Customs said.

In the first ten months, foreign trade dropped 8.1 percent year on year to 19.93 trillion yuan. They were separated into 11.46 trillion yuan for exports, down 2 percent; and 8.47 trillion yuan for imports, down 15.2 percent. The trade surplus expanded by 75.3 percent to 2.99 trillion yuan.

China reported 2.87 trillion yuan of trade with the European Union, its largest trade partner, in the first ten months, down 7.9 percent year on year; 2.85 trillion yuan with the United States, the second-largest trade partner, up 2.4 percent, according to the GAC data.

Meanwhile, trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the third-largest trade partner, and the fifth trade partner Japan dropped 2.4 percent and 10.7 percent year on year, to 2.34 trillion yuan and 1.42 trillion yuan respectively.

Foreign trade of private firms dropped 2.8 percent year on year in the first ten months to 7.28 trillion yuan, accounting for about 36.5 percent of China's total exports during the period. But exports of private firms rose 2 percent year on year.

In contrast, state-owned enterprises witnessed a sharper foreign trade fall of 13.2 percent year on year to 3.33 trillion yuan. Endi