China's exports went up 5.1 percent year on year to 185.99 billion U.S. dollars in July, recovering from a tumble in June, according to data on Thursday.
Imports also rebounded last month, gaining 10.9 percent to 168.17 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.
Total foreign trade grew 7.8 percent in July from a year earlier to 354.16 billion U.S. dollars, after it recorded a year-on-year decline of 2 percent in June.
The trade surplus narrowed by 29.6 percent year on year to 17.82 billion U.S. dollars last month, as import gains outpaced export gains, customs data showed.
In July, two-way trade with the EU and the United States rose 5 percent and 10 percent over a year earlier respectively, as compared with a year-on-year drop of 5.4 percent and 8.3 percent respectively with the two economies in June.
Zhuang Jian, an Asian Development Bank economist, expected China's foreign trade to perform better in the second half, but said great difficulties and uncertainties still lie ahead.
Zhuang said China should continue to optimize its export structure, enlarging the share of electronic and machinery products.
Exports of electronic and machinery products grew by 4 percent to reach 102.85 billion U.S. dollars in July, accounting for 55.3 percent of total exports. The proportion was 57.8 percent in the first half, indicating more efforts in the coming months.
Liu Ligang said the long-expected detailed plan on building a pilot free trade zone in Shanghai is likely to be announced in late August or early September, which will give a boost to the service trade.
Source: Xinhua
