China imports more major commodities in first two months

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) --China imported more major commodities in the first two months, data from the General Administration of Customs showed Friday.

The imports of crude oil surged by 12.4 percent to 81.82 million tonnes while that of refined oil rose by 4.4 percent to 5.72 million tonnes.

About 17.36 million tonnes of natural gas were imported, up 18.5 percent from the same period last year.

China's soybean imports, however, declined by 14.9 percent to 11.83 million tonnes.

The country's total imports went up 1.5 percent to 2.12 trillion yuan (about 315.5 billion U.S. dollars), with the trade surplus down 8.7 percent to 308.68 billion yuan from the same period last year.