(Yicai Global) Jan. 14 – China's trade surplus with the US, its third-largest trading partner, continued expanding last year with the Asian country's rapidly increasing farming goods purchasing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The surplus was USD316.9 billion, about a 7.2 percent gain from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs revealed today. China exported USD451.8 billion worth of goods to the States and imported USD134.9 billion in US-made products. In December, the surplus was USD29.9 billion.

China bought CNY162.7 billion (USD25.2 billion) worth of agricultural commodities from the US in 2020, rising by 67 percent from 2019, spokesperson Li Quiwen said at a press conference. 

China imported 56 percent more soybean, while the value of its pork imports more than tripled and purchases of cotton doubled, Li added. The Asian country also bought 88 percent more American crude oil. But except for crude, prices of these above-mentioned products were rapidly increasing in 2020.

Besides the US, China was exporting more elsewhere too. China's global trade surplus jumped by 27 percent to USD535 billion, the highest since 2015 amid its unexpectedly strong export growth.

China's biggest trading partner is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, followed by the European Union.

Editor: Emmi Laine