China's economic hub of Shanghai chalked up 56 billion U.S. dollars in trade surplus in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year growth of 41 percent.

However, the growth rate was 82.3 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, local customs sources said.

The local foreign trade in the Jan.-Jul. period amounted to 233.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 22 percent over the year-earlier level.

The total included 144.86 billion U.S. dollars in export volume and 88.85 billion U.S. dollars, up 25.2 percent and 17 percent respectively.

The export growth rate was eight percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, while the import growth rate was seven percentage points higher, the local customs sources said.

Source: Xinhua