China's imports and exports of goods rose 0.4 percent year-on-year to 23.55 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Wednesday. Among them, exports reached 13.47 trillion yuan and imports reached 10.08 trillion yuan, up 1.5% and down 1.1% respectively.

In July, China's foreign trade imports and exports were 3.46 trillion yuan, down 8.3% year on year. Lu Daliang, director of the statistical analysis Department of the General Administration of Customs, said that since the second quarter, the scale of China's monthly imports and exports has remained stable at more than 3.4 trillion yuan. On the whole, China's foreign trade imports and exports are running smoothly and in line with expectations, and the long-term fundamentals have not changed.

Specifically, exports withstood the pressure of weakening external demand, maintained overall growth, and some products' exports performed brilliantly. In the first seven months, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products 7.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.4%, accounting for 58.1% of the total export value. Among them, the exports of automobiles, ships and electrical equipment increased by 118.5%, 23.8% and 21.9% respectively.

In terms of imports, driven by the basic stability of industrial production and the orderly recovery of consumption scenes, China's imports of major energy and mineral products increased steadily, and some consumer goods imports grew by more than 10%. In the first seven months, China's imports of energy products and metal ore increased by 33.3% and 7.9%, respectively. In the same period, the import of consumer goods except passenger cars was 962.74 billion yuan, up by 10.1%, of which the import value of meat, dried fresh fruits and fruits, and edible aquatic products increased by 6.5%, 17.9% and 22.2% respectively.

In terms of foreign trade subjects, private enterprises continue to maintain the position of the largest operating subject of foreign trade in China. In the first seven months, the import and export of private enterprises reached 12.46 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year, and the proportion of China's foreign trade imports and exports further increased to 52.9%, an increase of 3.1 percentage points over the same period last year. In addition, the number of private enterprises involved in foreign trade reached 478,000, an increase of 36,000 year-on-year.

In terms of "circle of friends", ASEAN continues to be China's largest trading partner. In the first seven months, the total value of China's trade with ASEAN was 3.59 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.8% year-on-year. China's imports and exports to major trading partners such as the European Union, the United States and Japan fell by 0.1%, 9.6% and 5.8%, respectively.

It is worth noting that during the same period, China's total imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" were 8.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.4%, and the proportion of China's foreign trade increased by 2.2 percentage points to 34.2%. Its import and export to the five Central Asian countries increased by 35%, maintaining a rapid growth trend. Latin America and Africa grew by 5.5% and 7.4%, respectively. China's diversified and stable economic and trade relations are constantly expanding.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)