BEIJING, Nov 12: China said on Monday its politically sensitive trade surplus in October topped $27 billion for the first time, data sure to add to mounting pressure by the US and EU over Chinese trade policies.

Sizzling exports pushed the surplus to $27.1 billion in October, the customs bureau said, just weeks before high-level United States and European Union delegations, plus French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are due in China to press Beijing to let its yuan currency strengthen.

“The record high trade surplus will definitely increase US pressure to raise the yuan’s value,” said Shi Lei, an analyst with Beijing-based TX Consulting.

Chinese exports in October jumped 22.3 per cent to $107.7 billion over the same month last year, pushing the monthly surplus figure just beyond the previous record set in June of $26.9 billion.

It also lifted the accumulated surplus for the first 10 months to $212.4 billion, a leap of 59 per cent over the same period in 2006, already shattering last year’s record $177.5 billion.

Sarkozy, due in China from November 25 to 27 for his first state visit to China, said last week he would pressure Beijing about its “devalued” currency.

“I will go to China and I will tell (them) they have such a spectacular success ... you don’t need to have a currency so devalued to succeed,” he said during a visit to Washington.

He will be followed shortly after by an EU delegation led by European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and one led by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Beijing. Both will convey similar messages.

The European Commission’s ambassador to China, Serge Abou, said on Monday that Europe was running out of patience. —AFP