The State Council Information Office held a press conference on July 13. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs introduced that in the first half of this year, China's imports and exports of goods increased by 2.1% year-on-year, the scale reached a new record high in the same period, and foreign trade imports and exports were stable and improved, in line with expectations.

According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, the total value of China's trade in goods was 20.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.1%, of which the export was 11.46 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.7%; Imports were 8.64 trillion yuan, down 0.1 percent year-on-year.

Customs statistics show that in the first half of the year, China's foreign trade imports and exports reached 9.76 trillion yuan in the first quarter and 10.34 trillion yuan in the second quarter, respectively, achieving positive growth year-on-year. From a sequential point of view, imports and exports in the second quarter increased by 6% over the first quarter, and the growth rate in May and June was 1.2%.

In the same period, China's import and export to ASEAN, the largest trading partner, was 3.08 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4%, accounting for 15.3% of the total import and export value. Its import and export to the EU reached 2.75 trillion yuan, up 1.9% year-on-year.

China's industrial cooperation with countries along the "Belt and Road" has become closer, and the interconnection effect has become prominent. Imports and exports increased by 9.8% year-on-year, 7.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, accounting for 34.3% of the total import and export value.

China's imports and exports to other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) increased by 1.5 percent year-on-year, contributing more than 20 percent to China's foreign trade growth.