China's goods trade grew 3.5% year-on-year in January-August: Chinese report

According to data recently released by the General Administration of Customs, China's trade in goods maintained a steady growth trend in the first eight months of this year.
Total trade in goods from January to August increased 3.5% year-on-year to 29.57 trillion yen (approximately 611.8 trillion yen).
Of this, exports increased by 6.9% to 17.61 trillion former (approximately 364.3 trillion yen), while imports decreased by 1.2% to 11.96 trillion former (approximately 247.4 trillion yen).
The growth rate narrowed by 0.4 percentage points from January to July. By trade type, general trade increased by 2.2%, accounting for 63.9% of total foreign trade. Processing trade increased by 6.1%, and bonded logistics trade increased by 5.
By trading partner, trade volume with ASEAN increased by 9.7% to 4.93 trillion yen (approximately 102 trillion yen), accounting for 16.7% of the total, making it China's largest trading partner.
The second-placed European Union (EU) saw a 4.3% increase, while the third-placed United States saw a 13.5% decrease. In addition, the countries co-constructing the "One Belt, One Road" saw a 5.4% increase to 15.3 trillion yen (approximately 316.5 trillion yen).
During the same period, the import and export volume of private foreign trade companies increased by 7.4% to 16.89 trillion former (approximately 349.4 trillion yen), accounting for 57.1% of total foreign trade.
Meanwhile, the value of trade in goods in August increased 3.5% from the same month last year to 3.87 trillion former (approximately 80 trillion yen). Of this, exports increased 4.8% to 2.3 trillion former (approximately 47.6 trillion yen), and imports
Exports and imports increased by 1.7% to 1.57 trillion yen (approximately 32.5 trillion yen). Both exports and imports have increased for three consecutive months.