US exports to China hit record high of $103.9 billion

US exports to China have crossed the USD 100 billion mark for the first time, touching a record USD 103.9 billion last year.

Growing American exports to China will help boost the US economic recovery, analysts said.

With this level of exports, China has emerged as the third most common destination for US overseas shipments, just behind Canada and Mexico, US-China Business Council said.

US exports to China have risen 542 per cent from 2000 to 2011, going from USD 16.2 billion to a record USD 103.9 billion.

After the recent recession, the US exports to China regained momentum faster than the country's exports to any other place, the council said.

In 2010, Obama introduced the National Export Initiative, a plan to double US exports by 2014.

Meeting that goal will require exports to increase by at least 15 percent a year on average for five years.

Wang Haifeng, director of international economics at the Institute for International Economic Research, a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, said the export figures reveal a great opportunity.

"The fact that a record was set in US exports to China, which shows the great potential of US exports, not only reduces the trade imbalance between the top two economies but also alleviates unemployment in the US and speeds up the US' economic recovery," he said.

However, it will take a long while for US to catch up with China's exports to US, which last year touched a whopping 446.65 billion, a 15.9 percent increase.

US is second highest partner for China.

The European Union (EU) remained China's top trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to USD 567.21 billion up 18.3 percent year-on-year.

Among markets that receive large amounts of US exports, China is the only one in which they have increased by more than 15 percent a year since 2000, the council said.

Last year in China, the demand for US exports was the greatest for crops, computers, electronics, chemicals and transport equipment.

"American companies from every corner of the nation are exporting high-value computers, electronics, agricultural products, chemicals, transportation equipment and machinery to an expanding marketplace in China," Erin Ennis, vice-president of the US-China Business Council, told the daily.