This aerial photo shows a container terminal of Taicang Port, east China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: Xinhua

China's foreign trade in goods expanded by 6.2 percent year-on-year to reach 24.83 trillion yuan ($3.46 trillion) in the first seven months this year, setting a new record high, customs data showed on Wednesday, buoyed by the country's manufacturing strength, robust overseas demand, as well as the diversification of its commerce overseas.

The brisk data adds to an array of fresh evidence underscoring that the world's second largest economy has been picking up steady momentum, despite facing a slew of internal and external challenges. It also underlines a bullish outlook for the country's trade engine, which observers expect could roar at a quicker pace in the second half of the year to support the economy to grow and reach the 5-percent GDP goal for 2024.

The magnitude of China's trade growth in recent months also defied certain Western countries' protectionist measures and blatant tariff hikes imposed on Chinese goods. This underscored the resilience, competitiveness and inherent vigor of the world's largest manufacturing powerhouse, analysts said, while pointing to China's unfazed pivotal role as a stabilizer and locomotive of global supply chain.

In the first seven months this year, China's exports jumped by 6.7 percent, while imports gained 5.4 percent, according to customs data. The 6.2-percent foreign trade expansion also outpaced the 6.1-percent rise recorded in the first six months.

"Since the beginning of the year, China's economy has generally maintained a stable performance with steady progress, and foreign trade has continued to show a steady improvement," the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said in a statement seen on its website.

In July, foreign trade in goods soared 6.5 percent in year-on-year terms, with exports gaining 6.5 percent and imports expanding by 6.6 percent. 

The year-on-year growth rate of imports and exports has been higher than 5 percent for four consecutive months, according to GAC.

"A reading of 6.5-percent in July is a relatively high growth rate, so it is palpable that trade in July sustained the robust expansion streak from the previous month. As July marks the beginning of the second half, the positive data bodes well for the second-half trade development," Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

China's GDP expanded by 4.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarte. The freshly-released July trade data has led economists to project that China's third-quarter GDP is likely to grow by around 5 percent, or at least gain pace from the second-quarter.

According to Tian, the positive trade momentum in July is bolstered by a range of factors, including growing overseas demand amid looming global interest rate cut cycle. The 2024 Paris Olympic Games also partly helped to drive the demands for "Made in China" commodities, ranging from sports equipment, souvenirs and other goods.   

In early August, the Bank of England announced an interest rate cut, the first such move in four years. Observers pointed out that as more major economies will follow suit to cut rates in the second half, overseas demand is set to continue "flying high," which will further add to the upside of China's foreign trade. 

In terms of individual economies, ASEAN remained China's largest trading partner during the first seven months, with bilateral trade increasing by 10.5 percent year-on-year to hit 3.92 trillion yuan, accounting 15.8 percent of China's total foreign trade volume.

The EU and the US were China's second and third largest trading partners, respectively. China's trade with EU grew 0.4 percent in the January-July period. Meanwhile, China's trade with the US increased 4.1 percent in the first seven months.  

A closer examination of trade category also points to the ongoing trade structure upgrade. China's exports of electromechanical products in the first seven months totaled 8.41 trillion yuan, up 8.3 percent and accounted for 59 percent of the country's total exports, according to customs data.

Specifically, exports of integrated circuits recorded a year-on-year increase of 25.8 percent, while the exports of auto vehicles went up 20.7 percent.