China's trade surplus reached 177.47 billion US dollars in 2006, the General Administration of Customs said Wednesday.

Exports rose 27.2 percent from the previous year to 969.08 billion dollars, while imports were up 20 percent to 791.61 billion dollars.

The December surplus stood at 21 billion US dollars, a slight decline from November's 22.9 billion dollars.

Monthly imports for December were 73.1 billion US dollars, up 13.5 percent on the same month of 2005 while exports stood at 94.1billion US dollars, up 24.8 percent.

China's exports and imports in 2006 reached 1.76 trillion US dollars, 338.78 billion US dollars more than that in 2005, a year-on-year growth of 23.8 percent. Export growth was 1.2 percentage points down from 2005 while and imports were 2.4 percentage points up.

The trade figures for 2006 are higher than the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) projection, which forecast the aggregate trade surplus would be 168 billion US dollars.

Seven countries or regions had bilateral trade volume with China of over 100 billion US dollars in 2006, with China's top three trading partners, the European Union, the United States and Japan over 200 billion US dollars.

Taiwan saw its trade with the Chinese mainland surpassing 100 billion US dollars for the first time, reaching 107.84 billion US dollars, with a trade surplus in favor of Taiwan of 66.38 billion US dollars.

Electronic and machinery products remained the top export items in 2006, rising 28.8 percent to 549.44 billion US dollars

Exports of clothing for the whole of 2006 reached 95.19 billionUS dollars, up 28.9 percent year-on-year. Exports of textile products rose by 18.7 percent to 48.8 billion US dollars.

China exported 43.01 million tons of steel in 2006, up 110 percent from the year before.

China's imports of primary products rose 26.7 percent to 187.14billion US dollars in 2006, including 326 million tons of iron ore,up 18.6 percent from 2005.

Steel imports dropped 28.3 percent to 18.51 million tons while autos were up 40.7 percent to 229,000 units.

China's exports have continued to surge in 2006 with the surplus for the last three months exceeding 20 billion US dollars each month.

An MOC official said that steady growth in the world economy and the growing competitiveness of Chinese products on the international market are major driving forces behind China's surging exports.

The steel trade alone added 15 billion US dollars to China's trade surplus in 2006.

The Chinese government has said it will take measures to limit the huge trade surplus and achieve sounder, healthier foreign trade growth.

The Central Economic Conference at the end of last year raised the target of actively expanding imports for the first time.

Fiscal policies that encourage imports of new, high-technology equipment and key components are under study, according to the government.

Customs experts predict a continuing decline of export growth and higher imports in 2007.

There might be reduction in the trade surplus in 2007, said experts.

Customs officials estimate that China's trade volume will surpass 2 trillion US dollars in 2007.