The import volume of auto vehicles and steel products have declined obviously in the first half of the year, statistics from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) revealed here Tuesday.

Over the same period, imports of coal, iron ores and soybeans have reported a rapid growth, said Tuesday's China Securities Daily.

China's import of primary products reached 68.78 billion US dollars, up 22.5 percent year-on-year. Of the total, about 130 million tons of iron ore was imported, up 34.3 percent year-on-year.

The import volume of crude oil stood around 63.42 million tons, up 3.9 percent while that of processed oil was 15.7 million tons, down 21 percent year-on-year.

Besides, more than 12.09 million tons of coal was imported, up 56.1 percent over the same period of last year while 12.01 million tons of soybeans was imported, up 33.6 percent year-on-year.

GAC figures also reported an 11.7 percent increase in the aggregated import of industrial products which was 233.91 billion US dollars, or 77.3 percent of the country's total imports.

In a breakdown, the imports of mechanical and electrical products registered a growth of 9.7 percent to 154.54 billion US dollars while that of auto vehicles reported a decrease of 33.6 percent to 64,000. The import of steel products was only 13.22 million tons, down 26.5 percent.

Source: Xinhua