China's foreign trade of goods up 9.4 pct in H1

Photo taken on May 1, 2022 shows a container vessel docking at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. [Xinhua/Li Ziheng]

BEIJING -- China's foreign trade of goods jumped 9.4 percent year on year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about 2.94 trillion U.S. dollars) during the first half of the year, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports rose 13.2 percent year on year to 11.14 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.8 percent from a year ago to 8.66 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

"The growth of foreign trade picked up significantly in May and June," said Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC.

As the epidemic prevention and control situation improves and pro-growth policies are taking effects, foreign trade enterprises have resumed work and production in an orderly manner since May.

"In particular, the rapid recovery of imports and exports in the Yangtze River Delta led to a marked rebound in the overall growth of China's foreign trade," Li said.

China's foreign trade growth accelerated to 14.3 percent in June, compared with 9.5 percent in May and 0.1 percent in April.

In the first half, China's trade with its top three trading partners -- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States -- expanded by 10.6 percent, 7.5 percent and 11.7 percent from a year ago, respectively.

From January to June, China's trade with Belt and Road countries and members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership soared by 17.8 percent and 5.6 percent year on year.

In terms of types of goods, imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products expanded by 4.2 percent to account for 49.1 percent of the total.

Private enterprises posted strong performance as their imports and exports grew 13.6 percent year on year in the first half, outpacing the country's overall growth.

China's exports of labor-intensive products increased 13.5 percent to 1.99 trillion yuan, while imports of energy products including crude oil, natural gas and coal surged 53.1 percent, customs data showed.