China Machinery and Electronics Exports up 21.5% during Jan-April

China exported 251.29 bln usd worth of machinery and electronic products in the four months to April, up 24.3 pct year-on-year, under calculations based on commerce ministry data on machinery and electronics products exports.

In a statement published on government website, China's exports and imports rose 21.5 pct and 27.9 pct respectively in the first four months of 2008 from 2007.

XFN-Asia calculations based on these percentages show that overall exports grew 21.5 pct to about 424.48 bln usd in the first four months of the year.

Meanwhile, the ministry said imports of machinery and electronic products totaled 173.31 bln usd, up 17.8 pct year-on-year, and accounting for 47.3 pct of total imports volume.

China's trade surplus in the first four months would be about 58 bln usd, with April surplus at around 16.66 bln usd, based on the figures provided for machinery and electronics products.

It added that the growth rate of imports in the segment was 10.1 percentage points lower that the growth rate of China's total imports.

Exports grew 21.4 pct in the three months to March while imports were up 28.6 pct.

China booked a trade surplus of 41.42 bln usd in the first quarter of 2008.