China's monthly trade surplus in July dropped 2.55 billion U.S. dollars, or 10.4 percent, from June to 24.35 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday.

The figure was the second highest monthly level on record.

The country's trade surplus totaled 136.81 billion dollars in the first seven months, the administration said.

Imports rose 26.9 percent on July last year to 83.39 billion dollars in July while exports were up 34.2 percent to 107.74 billion dollars. July's imports and exports both hit monthly records.

China's foreign trade for the first seven months totaled 1.17 trillion U.S. dollars, up 24.4 percent from the same period last year.