At 10 a.m. today (13th), the State Council Information Office held a press conference. The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs introduced that in the first half of the year, China's foreign trade imports and exports increased by 2.1% year-on-year, reaching a new historical high in scale. Foreign trade imports and exports remained stable and improved in quality, in line with expectations.

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

Customs statistics show that in the first half of the year, China's foreign trade import and export scale exceeded 20 trillion yuan for the first time in history, with the first and second quarters reaching 9.76 trillion yuan and 10.34 trillion yuan respectively, achieving positive growth year-on-year. From a month on month basis, import and export in the second quarter increased by 6% compared to the first quarter, and both May and June saw a month on month increase of 1.2%.

China's foreign trade structure continues to optimize, with general trade imports and exports reaching 13.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%. The import and export of private enterprises increased by 8.9%, accounting for 52.7% of the total import and export value. The new three types of products, including electric passenger cars, lithium batteries, and solar cells, saw a total export growth of 61.6%, driving an overall export growth of 1.8 percentage points.

During the same period, China's imports and exports to ASEAN, the largest trading partner, amounted to 3.08 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, accounting for 15.3% of the total import and export value. Import and export to the European Union reached 2.75 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%. China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased 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. Import and export to other RCEP member countries increased by 1.5% year-on-year.

（Source: CCTV News Client)