China moves to No. 5 exporter
BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China became the world's fifth largest exporter last year, rising one place from the previous year to account for 5.1 percent of total global exports, the official China Securities Journal said on Friday.
The newspaper, which cited World Trade Organization figures, did not explain the cause of the rise, but China's exports soared last year as more overseas companies shifted production there to take advantage of cheap labor costs.
China's exports ranked behind the United States, Germany, Japan and France, the newspaper said. It did not say what country China had bumped from the number five slot.
China's imports, which accounted for 4.4 percent of the world's total in 2002, ranked sixth in the world, unchanged from a year earlier, it said.
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