China was the fourth-largest merchandise trader in 2002, if the European Union is counted as a single unit, according to International Trade Statistics 2003, released by the World Trade Organization on Wednesday.

The WTO said China's trade expansion remained "outstanding." In the 1990s, China's trade growth was three times faster than global trade. Between 2000 and 2002 its exports and imports rose by 30 percent while world trade stagnated.

According to WTO statistics, world trade recovered in 2002 from its steep decline in 2001. The average annual rate of merchandise trade expansion in 2002 was limited to 3 percent in real terms, only half the rate observed in the 1990s.

The trade recovery in 2002 benefited from strong import demand in Asia and the United States. Sluggish import demand in Western Europe and a sharp contraction of Latin America's imports constituted a drag on global trade.

The WTO said that a combination of declining exports and rising imports by the United States has led to a record trade and current account deficit, the latter equivalent to 5 percent of its GDP.

Chemicals emerged as the product group with the strongest trade growth over the last two years. Driven by pharmaceutical trade among the developed countries, its share in world merchandise exports rose above 10 percent. That exceeds the ration not only in trading automotive products, but also that of agricultural products.

World merchandise trade growth for 2003 is estimated to be 3 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2003)