IT Imports Lag Behind Exports, Both Lose Speed

Domestic import/export volume for IT products rose 13.3% year-on-year, 10.3 percentage points lower than last year's rate, to reach $824.22 billion in the first eleven months of 2008, according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data released on January 4. IT exports made up 36.8% of the nation's total export volume at $484.22 billion, up 16.8% year-on-year, while IT imports were 32% of domestic import volume at $340 billion, up 8.63% year-on-year.

Growth for IT imports and exports were down 11.7 and 9.5 percentage points, respectively, from year-on-year rates recorded in 2007. The pace of IT import and export growth was 14.2 and 2.5 percentage points slower than all-industry import and export totals, respectively, in the 11 month period.

In the first ten months of 2008, IT product domestic import/export volume was up 17% to $754.84 billion.