The European Union (EU) has replaced Japan as China's No.1 import source region based on trade figures in the first four months, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Tuesday.
Trade between China and the EU soared 23.5 percent in the first four months from a year earlier to 170.01 billion U.S. dollars, according to MOC spokesman Yao Jian.
China and the EU are each other's top trade partners, and it is not unusual to see legal friction in trade between them, but the involved products take a very little percentage in the trade volume, about 1 to 3 percent, Yao said.
His remarks came after the EU slapped its first-ever anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on coated fine paper imported from China. China said that EU members had subsidized domestic production of potato starch exported to China.
Japan was China's largest import source region last year but its exports to China dropped in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.
China imported 15.99 billion U.S. dollars of goods from Japan in April. The monthly growth rate was 4.7 percent in April year on year, remarkably lower from 26.4 percent in the first quarter.
The MOC will take further measures based on Japan's economic and industrial recovery to boost Sino-Japan economic activities, including participating in reconstruction./.