OECD: TRADE ACCELERATED IN MAJOR ECONOMIES IN Q4 2010

Paris, February 24 (Reuters)- International trade picked up in the last three months of 2010 when growth in Chinese imports far exceeded its exports, reducing the country's trade surplus, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday.

Merchandise exports from the Group of Seven industrialised countries plus Brazil, Russia, India and China rose 8 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months while imports gained 7 percent, the OECD said.

In the third quarter, exports and imports had both grown 1 percent.

Chinese exports grew 3 percent over the period while imports increased 9 percent, cutting China's trade surplus to $41 billion.

In the United States, exports grew 5 percent, outpacing a 1 percent increase in imports and reducing the trade deficit of the world's biggest economy to $152 billion.

Germany saw its export surplus widen to $54 billion as exports grew 7 percent and imports rose 4 percent. Commodities producers Russia and South Africa saw bigger surpluses as Russian exports surged 19 percent and South African exports jumped 14 percent.

Imports grew faster than exports in France, Italy, Japan, Britain and Brazil.

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