China's foreign trade posted a lackluster performance in the first half (H1) of the year, with exports weighed down by slowing global recovery and imports plagued by weak domestic demand, official data showed on Monday.
Total foreign trade dropped 6.9 percent year on year to 11.53 trillion yuan (1.89 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of 2015, according to data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
The decline widened from a 6-percent drop registered in the first quarter, a signal of looming downward pressure on the economy.
During the Jan.-June period, exports rose slightly by 0.9 percent from a year ago to 6.57 trillion yuan, while imports slumped by 15.5 percent to 4.96 trillion yuan.
Trade surplus expanded 1.5 times to 1.61 trillion yuan, data showed.
The GAC spokesman, Huang Songping described the situation as "grim and complicated" under the sluggish global economy but said the country has managed to diversify its foreign trade to weather out the tough period.
Trade with emerging markets appeared robust while the demand from developed economies shrank. China's exports to the Southeast Asian countries, India and Africa grow by 9.5 percent, 10.7 percent and 12.9 percent respectively, data showed.
Although China was still far from breaking a losing spiral of foreign trade, there were some encouraging signs in June.
In the last month, foreign trade only decreased 1.9 percent from a year earlier, with exports rising by 2.1 percent and imports falling by 6.7 percent, the GAC data showed.
Trade surplus in June jumped by 45 percent to 284.2 billion yuan.
