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In the first five months, trade surplus decreased 35.1 percentyear-on-year to $22.97 billion.

A commerce ministry official said the data suggested thenation's foreign trade was trending upwards, but conditionswere complicated by high unemployment in the United Statesand European countries and political volatility in North Africaand the Middle East.

The Chinese government has managed to cool the economy, as fights to contain inflation.

The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) of the manufacturing sector, which measures manufacturingactivities, dropped 0.9 percentage points month-on-month to 52 percent in May, falling to a nine-month low amid the government's efforts, including hiking interest rates and bank's reserverequirement ratio, to curb soaring prices.

Peng Wensheng, an economist with the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), said asharp slowdown was unlikely, as overseas demand would not shrink to the level seen during theglobal financial crisis.

The gradual appreciation of the yuan also helped boost imports.

EU remains China's biggest trading partner with $218.01 billion worth of trade in the first fivemonths, up 22.9 percent year-on-year.

Trade with the United States climbed 22.3 percent to $169.52 billion during the period while that withASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries jumped 26 percent to $140.82 billion.

Source from Chinadaily