China's customs tax revenues nationwide stood at 489.6 billion yuan (US$71.6 billion) from January to June this year, up 35.6 percent year on year, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) said on Saturday.

This was mainly boosted up by the strong import momentum in the first half of this year along with the quick economic development pace domestically, said the GACC.

Figures showed that the country imported goods valued at US$567.57 billion from January to June, up 30.6 percent year on year.

China's trade surplus fell to US$99.03 billion in the first half of this year, down 11.8 percent from the same period last year.

China customs levied a total amount of taxes standing at 2.74 trillion yuan from 2003 to 2007, up 19.6 percent annually.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)