Reply #24: China surpasses US as EU's top trade partner

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/China-surpasses-US-as-EUs-top-trade-partner/articleshow/10376137.cms

BEIJING: Trade between China and the European Union (EU) totalled 35.6 billion euros ($49.4 billion) in July, allowing China to overtake the US as the EU's largest trade partner, authorities said.

The overall value of China-EU trade in July exceeded that of the EU and the US by 800 million euros, accounting for 13.4% of the region's total imports and exports, according to data released by the EU's statistics office.

However, bilateral trade shrank for a second consecutive month in July, falling 0.8% from the same period last year, the ministry of commerce said, citing the latest statistics from Eurostat.

Xinhua reported that China remained the EU's second largest export market. EU exports to China totalled 11.7 billion euros in July, up 12.3% year-on-year, which is higher than EU's total export growth rate of 4.1%.