(ECNS)--Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs, has called for a rational, objective interpretation of China’s current surplus in commodity trade.
At a press conference hosted by the State Council Information Office, Huang said China’s trade surplus is an outcome of its economic structure and international division of labor, and as China's domestic market further opens to the world, foreign trade will become more balanced.
Huang also said the trade surplus reached 901.32 billion yuan in the first half of the year and has continued to shrink for the eighth consecutive quarter since the third quarter of 2016.
Imports grew faster than exports, about 6.6 percentage points higher in the first half of the year. Imports grew rapidly due to China's active expansion of imports and the rise in prices for some bulk commodities, said Huang.
