JAPAN remained China’s top trading partner in the first seven months of this year while the U.S. held on to second place, customs figures published Saturday by State media show.

　　Total trade volume between China and Japan rose 8.8 percent year on year to US$53.931 billion in the first seven months of this year, Xinhua reported, citing General Administration of Customs data.

　　Despite a slump in global economic demand, China’s trade with its top 10 partners continued to increase during January to July this year.

　　This strong trade performance has helped to maintain China’s fast-paced economic growth this year.

　　China’s exports to Japan grew 3.1 percent year on year to US$25.73 billion during the seven-month period, outpaced by a 14.5 percent year-on-year rise in imports worth US$28.201 billion.

　　Sino-U.S. trade grew 13.8 percent year on year to US$51.031 billion in the same period.

　　China’s exports to the U.S. rose 21.3 percent year on year to US$36.299 billion, while imports from the U.S. fell 1.2 percent year on year to US$14.733 billion.

　　Sino-E.U. trade ranked third, rising 6.6 percent year on year to US$46.229 billion in the seven-month period.

　　China’s exports to the E.U. rose 8.5 percent year on year to US$25.161 billion, while imports from the E.U. rose 4.5 percent year on year to US$21.068 billion, Xinhua said.

　　The other countries and regions comprising Chinese mainland’s top 10 trade partners in descending order are Hong Kong, Association of South East Asian Nations, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, Australia and Canada.

　　Besides the U.S., Canada was the only other trading partner in the top 10 to record a fall in exports to China during the first seven months of this year.

　　Canada’s imports from China slumped 12.4 percent year on year to US$2.036 billion, compared with a 20.4 percent rise in exports from China to US$2.316 billion.

　　(SD-Agencies)