"The U.S. has overtaken the European Union as the main market for Chinese exports," said Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang, in a press conference.
The spokesman did not give exact details of the variation or the period measured, since official statistics of the Ministry only count the total value of bilateral trade with its main partners, which in October was USD 31,200 million between China
and the United States, and USD 26,400 million with the European Union (EU).
The fall in the demand in the EU, was due to the debt crisis in many of its member countries. This has taken a toll on the Chinese economy, world's largest exporter, that this year could grow by two points less than in 2011 (Beijing expected a rise of 7.5% in its GDP in 2012, since last year t increased by 9.2%).
However, in the first 10 months of the year the European Union continues positioning itself as China`s major trading partner with a total volume of USD 452,830 million, compared to USD 396,090 million from the U.S.
