China's foreign trade in the first half of 2016 dropped 3.3 percent year-on-year to 11.13 trillion yuan, according to data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) released on Wednesday.
Among the foreign trade volume, export dropped 2.1 percent from a year ago to 6.5 trillion yuan while import slumped 4.7 percent to 4.73 trillion yuan. The foreign trade surplus widened 5.9 percent to 1.67 trillion yuan.
In the second quarter, import and export show a trend of recovery, according to the GAC data. The export slightly increased 1.2 percent while in the first quarter it dropped 5.7 percent. The decline of import narrowed by 7.2 percentage points compared with the first quarter.
In June China's foreign trade dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year to 2.04 trillion yuan, among which exports rose 1.3 percent year-on-year, while imports went down 2.3 percent. The foreign trade surplus extended 12. 8 percent to 3.11 billion yuan.
Import and export of general trade shares 56.4 percent of the gross value of imports and exports, which increased 1.2 percentage point than the same period in 2015. It shows an improvement of China's trade pattern.
China's export to some countries covered by China's "Belt and Road" initiative saw an increase in H1, including Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, India and Egypt. Meanwhile, China's export to the European Union increased slightly while export to the US and the ASEAN declined. The three parts share 46.6 percent of the whole value exports.
Export volume in the private sector increased 3.6 percent to 2.99 trillion yuan, which accounts for 46.6 percent of the whole exports. Electromechanical industry and traditional labor intensive industry are still the main force of export.
The import volume of commodities such as iron ore, crude oil and copper maintained an increase in momentum. The price of main commodities remained in a low place while the decline narrowed compared to the first quarter.
The terms of trade index was 105.2 in H1, which means that certain export goods can exchange import goods with an additional value of 5.2 percent. The data shows China's terms of trade is improving, according to GAC.