China's foreign trade surged 44 percent year on year in January boosted by busy shipments ahead of the nation's traditional Spring Festival, while trade surplus shrank by half, the customs agency said on Monday.

Exports rose by 37.7 percent year on year to $150.73 billion while imports increased by 51 percent to $144.28 billion, the General Administration of Customs said on its website.

Foreign trade totaled $295.01 billion.

The trade surplus shrank 53.5 percent year on year to $6.45 billion in January, much less than the market expected.

Chinese New Year fell on February 3 this year, while last year it fell on February 14. Exports and imports were pushed up in January as a result.

Exporters and importers frontloaded their trading activities in January this year, said Lu Ting, an economist with the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Because of this both export and import growth will probably slump in February, he said.

According to an analyst with Anbound, a Beijing-based investment consultancy, exports are unlikely to plunge in the short-run, as developing economies were showing more signs of recovery.

The European Union remained China's largest trade partner in 2010, with EU-China trade up 30.5 percent year on year to $45.97 billion.

Trade with the United States rose 39.2 percent year on year to $36.87 billion while China-Japan trade jumped 42 percent year on year to $27.84 billion.

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) surged 34.5 percent to $28.89 billion. The trade deficit with the ASEAN nations increased 4.4 fold to $2.17 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2011)