China's trade with top partner Asean up 5.6% in H1

BEIJING (Xinhua): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) became China's biggest trading partner in the first half of this year, accounting for 14.7 per cent of the nation's total foreign trade volume, amid upgraded free trade area protocol and supply chain cooperation.

China's trade with Asean stood at 2.09 trillion yuan (about US$299 billion) in the first six months, up 5.6 per cent year on year. Exports to Asean rose 3.4 per cent to 1.15 trillion yuan, while imports climbed 8.5 per cent to 938.57 billion yuan, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed Tuesday (July 14).