China's foreign trade up 6.2% in first 7 months

China's total goods imports and exports expanded 6.2 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of this year to 24.83 trillion yuan ($3.46 trillion), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday.

The country's exports rose 6.7 percent year-on-year to 14.26 trillion yuan during the period, while imports climbed 5.4 percent to 10.57 trillion yuan, according to the administration.

In the first seven months, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained China's largest trade partner. China's trade with ASEAN economies climbed 10.5 percent year-on-year to 3.92 trillion yuan, accounting for 15.8 percent of the country's total trade value, the administration said.

In the January-July period, China's trade with the European Union crawled up 0.4 percent from a year earlier, while the country's trade with the United States climbed 4.1 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

During the same period, China's trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 11.72 trillion yuan, which witnessed a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent, according to the data.

China saw steady export growth of such mechanical and electrical products as data processing devices, cell phones and automobiles during this period, which rose 8.3 percent to 8.41 trillion yuan and accounted for 59 percent of the country's total exports. In particular, exports of automobiles totaled 462.86 billion yuan, up 20.7 percent year-on-year.