Photo: VCG

China's import and export volume of goods reached 20.1 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) in the first half of the year, up 2.1 percent year on year. This is within expectations, as the country's foreign trade sector witnessed improvement in quality amid continuous economic recovery, official data showed on Thursday.

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC), the country's exports increased by 3.7 percent year-on-year hitting 11.46 trillion yuan between January and June, while imports slightly declined 0.1 percent year-on-year to reach 8.64 trillion yuan.

Lü Daliang, a GAC spokesperson said the country's foreign trade volume showed growth while maintaining stability, as the total imports and export volume in the second quarter increased 7 percent quarter-on-quarter to reach 10.34 trillion yuan. The readings in May and June both saw a month-on-month growth of 1.2 percent.

As the structure of the country's foreign trade sector continues to see improvement, the import and export volume of private companies in China continue to grow. In the first six months, private enterprises imported and exported a total of 10.59 trillion yuan worth of goods, up 8.9 percent year-on-year. That accounted for 52.7 percent of the country's total, up 3.3 percentage points, according to the GAC.

Over the same period, the ASEAN remains China's largest trade partner, with bilateral trade up 5.4 percent year-on-year to reach 3.08 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, China's foreign trade with the EU increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year, hitting 2.75 trillion yuan, whereas that trade with the US fell 8.4 percent year-on-year to 2.25 trillion yuan, Lü said.

It's worth noting that China's trade with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative jumped 9.8 percent year-on-year in the first half, 7.7 percentage points higher than the country's total foreign trade growth rate, data showed.

Driven by "three new major ones," namely solar batteries, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles, the country's export of machinery products rose 6.3 percent year-on-year to reach 6.66 trillion yuan in the first half, accounting for 58.2 percent of the country's total export, according to the GAC.

The country's imports of bulk commodities including energy, minerals and grain increased by 17.1 percent year-on-year over the period.

China's foreign trade faces pressure amid challenges such as rising geopolitical tensions and weak external demand in the second half, but the positive long-term foreign trade prospect will not change and we have confidence and the conditions to achieve high-quality foreign trade development, Lü said.

Global Times