Beijing, June 11 (PTI): Trade between India and China rose 53.7 per cent to $14.2 billion during the first five months of the year. This is the fastest growth rate among the Communist nation’s top ten trading partners. This was revealed in a report by the General Administration of Customs here today.

China’s trade surplus in May soared 73 per cent to $22.45 billion. The figure was close to February’s $23.7 billion, the second highest record in a month. Exports grew 28.7 per cent year-on-year to $94.1 billion, a marginal rise of 1.9 percentage point from April, the report said.

Imports rose 19.1 per cent to $71.6 billion, or about 2.2 percentage point higher than April. Aggregate surplus for the first five months jumped 84 per cent year-on-year to $85.7 billion, the report said.

Huang Guohua, a senior analyst with Chinese customs, said the surplus growth in May reflected the corporate response to the government’s latest trade policy change.

The ministry of finance announced on May 21 that the country would impose extra export tariffs, while cutting import duties as of June 1 to narrow its widening trade surplus. “Therefore, exports surged ahead of the export tax hike and importers delayed shipments until import duty cut came into effect,” Huang said.

The European Union remained China’s top trading partner, with bilateral trade volume reaching $129.9 billion in the first five months of 2007, up 29 per cent from the same period of last year.