A report released yesterday by the General Administration of Customs on August 14th showed that China exported $116 billion 790 million to the US in the first half of this year, an increase of 8.9% over the same period last year, far below the 21.8% growth rate of China's overall foreign trade exports over the same period last year, down 9% from the same period last year.

This is the first time that China's export growth to the US has dropped to single digits in the past 7 years.

The report said that in the first half of this year, the dual impact of the spread of the US subprime crisis and the accelerated appreciation of the renminbi were the main reasons for the sharp fall in the growth rate of US exports to the US.

The accelerated appreciation of RMB has weakened the price competitive advantage of our products in the US market, and the export of products such as textiles and garments, plastic products and so on, which rely on price advantage to occupy the US market, encountered obvious resistance.

In addition, the report also believes that domestic labor costs rise, raw material prices and export tax rebate rates have been greatly reduced or canceled, coupled with tight monetary policy to increase corporate financial pressure, corporate export profits have been further squeezed, export power has declined significantly, and become another important reason for the decline in US export growth.

The General Administration of Customs stated that stabilizing exports has become an important objective of the current macro-economic operation, ensuring stable and healthy development of export trade to the US, and playing an important role in preventing our exports from continuing to slow down.