BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- China's trade in electronic and information products expanded in the first five months of 2008, but the growth rate of both exports and imports eased, according to figures released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) here on Wednesday.

    MIIT said exports of electronic and information products stood at about 201.95 billion U.S. dollars from January to May, up 24.1percent year-on-year.

    These products included mobile phones, fax machines, TVs, computers, digital cameras and the like.

    However, the growth rate of the biggest sector in China's export basket was 1.1 percentage points lower than the same period last year.

    Wholly foreign-funded companies were the biggest driver of these exports, accounting for 66.6 percent of the total, while Sino-foreign joint ventures accounted for 16 percent.

    China imported 147.9 billion U.S. dollars worth of electronic and information products from January to May, up 17.4 percent year-on-year. However, the growth rate was 0.6 percentage point lower than last year.

    MIIT said the country exported 4.12 billion U.S. dollars worth of software in the first five months, up 45 percent year-on-year.

    Software exports surged from 720 million U.S. dollars in 2001 to 10.24 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, partly boosted by the government's support policies and an increasing talent pool.