The statistics released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on March 10 showed that Chinese import and export totaled USD386.4b in the first two months of this year, up 44.8% from the same period last year, of which export amounted to USD204.08b, up 31.4%; import USD182.32b, up 63.6%; trade surplus USD21.76b, down 50.4%.

February import and export totaled USD181.43b, up 45.2%, of which export amounted to USD94.52%, up 45.7%; import USD86.91b, up 44.7%. The two Februaries are comparablebecause both includec Spring Festival. Compared with February 2008 prior to the financial crisis, the total import and export in February rose 9%, of which export rose 8.2% and import 9.8%.

Even though the year on year comparisons are all up, the current trend is not optimistic.  For the last two months, total trade voluem has dropped significantly over previous months, as can be see from the following chart.  If this trend continues, the prospect would be very worrysome.

(Click to enlarge)