Cross-Straits trade hits 169 bln USD in 2012

Trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan expanded 5.6 percent year on year in 2012 to 168.96 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs said Thursday.

The trade accounted for 4.4 percent of the Chinese mainland's total trade volume in 2012, spokesman Zheng Yuesheng said at a press conference.

The mainland's exports to Taiwan rose 4.8 percent year on year to 36.78 billion U.S. dollars, while its imports from Taiwan reached 132.18 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier, the spokesman said.

Last year, the mainland imported goods worth 8.43 billion U.S. dollars from Taiwan under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a jump of 105 percent from a year earlier, Zheng said.

The ECFA, a wide-ranging cross-Straits economic pact signed in 2010, also helped traders save 3.97 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs, 3.3 times the amount saved in 2011, according to Zheng.

The outlook for cross-Straits trade is promising, as the two sides plan to adopt more practical and open measures to boost trade, the spokesman said.