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China's foreign trade to grow at a double-digit rate in 2017, says Customs

CHINA's exports to North Korea in September declined by 6.7 per cent from a year ago, while imports were down 37.9 per cent amid United Nations sanctions intended to pressure North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un to abandon his missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

North Korea's trade deficit with China in the first nine months of the year more than tripled from the same period of 2016, to US$1.07 billion, China's customs administration spokesman Huang Songping said at a briefing in Beijing, reported SCMP.

With China's support, the UN has agreed on two rounds of sanctions since the beginning of August, including bans on North Korean exports of iron, coal, lead, seafood, textiles, and oil import restrictions.

Although, there are no records of seafood imports from North Korea, shipments of coal, iron ore and clothing all contracted, Mr Huang revealed.

Ninety per cent of North Korea's documented trade was with China in 2016. Beijing has been under pressure from the US to show it is complying with UN sanctions designed to put an economic squeeze on Mr Kim's weapons programmes. However, Beijing is reluctant to trigger an economic collapse and chaos over its shared 1,350 kilometre border.

In spite of North Korea's exports declining via official channels, there is evidence that the country is smuggling shipments to and from China. North Koreans use boats, cars, trucks and several rail lines to carry everything from seafood to diesel fuel and mobile phones back and forth across the border, according to a report by Bloomberg News.

In the first nine months of the year, China's overall trade with North Korea increased by 3.7 per cent year on year to $4.03 billion, down from 7.5 per cent for the January through August period.

China's exports to North Korea from January to September increased 20.9 per cent to $2.55 billion, while imports declined by 16.7 per cent to $1.48 billion.