China's foreign trade drops 7.3% in first seven months

A female Chinese worker sews clothes at a garment factory in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, June 1, 2015. [Photo / IC]

BEIJING -- China's foreign trade dropped 7.3 percent year on year to 13.63 trillion yuan ($2.23 trillion) in the first seven months of 2015, official data showed on Saturday.

Exports edged down by 0.9 percent from a year ago to 7.75 trillion yuan, while imports slumped by 14.6 percent to 5.88 trillion yuan, according to data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Trade surplus doubled to hit 1.87 trillion yuan in the Jan-July period.

In July, foreign trade decreased by 8.8 percent from the same period last year to 2.12 trillion yuan, with exports declining by 8.9 percent to 1.19 trillion yuan and imports falling by 8.6 percent to 930.2 billion yuan, data showed.

Trade surplus in July dropped by 10 percent to 263 billion yuan.