China's foreign trade picked up in May as total imports and exports increased 9.6 percent year on year to 3.45 trillion yuan, compared to 0.1 percent a month earlier, official data showed on Thursday.
In the first five months of 2022, foreign trade volume jumped 8.3 percent to 16.04 trillion yuan from a year ago, outpacing the 7.9-percent increase in January to April, according to the northeast Asian country's General Administration of Customs.
In United States dollar terms, the amount translated to $2.51 trillion, up 10.3 percent year on year.
Exports grew 11.4 percent year on year in January to May while imports rose 4.7 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.84 trillion yuan, customs data showed.
China's trade with its top three trading partners in this period — the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States — expanded by 8.1 percent, 7 percent and 10.1 percent from a year ago, respectively.
China's trade with Belt and Road countries leaped 16.8 percent to 5.11 trillion yuan from the January-to-May 2021 figure.
Private enterprises reported faster growth as their imports and exports rose 11.8 percent to 7.86 trillion yuan in the period, accounting for 49 percent of the total — a 1.5-percentage-point jump year on year.
Exports of mechanical and electrical products grew 7 percent, accounting for 57.2 percent of the total, while those of labor-intensive items increased 11.6 percent, Manila Times reports.