China's foreign trade up 4.2 pct in first seven months

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade of goods rose 4.2 percent year on year in the first seven months of this year to 17.41 trillion yuan (about 2.49 trillion U.S. dollars), customs data showed Thursday.

Exports increased 6.7 percent year on year to 9.48 trillion yuan during the period, while imports grew 1.3 percent to 7.93 trillion yuan, the General Administration of Customs said.

China saw its trade surplus widen by 47.4 percent year on year to 1.55 trillion yuan during the same period.