File photo shows a view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai.Photo:Xinhua

The Yangtze River Delta region, home to one quarter of China's economy, witnessed rising foreign trade as the region shrugged off the epidemic impact. A customs official said that the region contributed nearly 40 percent of China's foreign trade in June.

The total import and export of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces and Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta was 7.14 trillion yuan ($1.06 trillion) in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 9.3 percent, Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of General Administration of Customs of China, said on Wednesday.

Among them, the foreign trade in June was 1.39 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.9 percent, which was 0.6 percentage points higher than the overall national growth rate in the same period, and contributed nearly 40 percent to the national foreign trade growth, Li noted.

Foreign trade of Shanghai, the city which was most affected by the epidemic, returned to positive growth in June, with a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent and a month-on-month increase of 35.6 percent, Li said. 

Li said the regions, including the Yangtze River Delta region, Pearl River Delta and the Northeast China have assured the growth of foreign trade, which in detail saw a growth of 14.9 percent, 6.4 percent and 12.8 percent in June, and higher than their performance in May. 

China reported a foreign trade of 19.8 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, a positive year-on-year growth for eight consecutive quarters.

Li said the growth of foreign trade is mainly attributed to a stable overseas demand and sufficient domestic production demand.

Despite the increase in external environmental risks and challenges caused by the epidemic and the Ukraine crisis, overall, the global economy is still showing a recovery trend, Li said. 

In the first half of the year, China's exports of electrical equipment, integrated circuits and automobiles increased by 24.8 percent, 16.4 percent and 51.1 percent respectively.

Although local outbreaks have occurred in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Northeast China since the beginning of this year, resulting in a decline of foreign trade, the regions have showed an upward growth trend from negative to positive, which "maintained the fundamentals of the stable growth of national foreign trade," Li said. 

China's economic resilience, potential, long-term positive fundamentals have not changed, and China's foreign trade is expected to continue to maintain stable growth with the resumption of work and production continuing in an orderly manner, the Customs official said.