China's foreign trade volume totaled 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2005, up 23.2 percent over the previous year, according to statistics released on January 11 by the General Administration of Customs.

   The country's export amounted to 762 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 28.4 percent year-on-year; and import was 660.12 billion U.S. dollars, a rise of 17.6 percent.

   In December 2005 alone, China's foreign trade volume hit a record of 139.81 billion U.S. dollars, up 20 percent over 2004.

  The export and import stood at 75.41 billion U.S. dollars and 64.4 billion U.S. dollars respectively, increasing 18.2 percent and 22.2 percent over the same month of  2004.

   Customs statistics also revealed that in 2005, China's general foreign trade volume hit 594.81 billion U.S. dollars, up 21 percent, with export amounting to 315.09 billion U.S. dollars and import 279.72 billion U.S. dollars, up 29.3 percent and 12.7 percent respectively over 2004.

   Meanwhile, the country's processing trade came to 690.51 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 25.3 percent over 2004.