China said Tuesday that the United States has overtaken the European Union as its biggest export market, as the continent's debt crisis has sent demand slumping.
"The biggest is the U.S. and the EU is second," Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters at a regular briefing, without saying when the reversal occurred. "The EU used to be the biggest," he added.
Chinese customs figures for the first 10 months of this year showed that China's exports to the United States totaled $289.3 billion, while shipments to the EU came to $276.8 billion.
Weak demand from both Europe and the U.S. has been a big factor as China's economic growth has slowed over the past seven quarters to the end of September.
Economic growth in the United States remains weak but is expanding, while the eurozone's debilitating debt crisis has dragged it back into recession.
