The Chinese mainland's foreign trade reached 1.17 trillion U.S. dollars, up 24.4 percent, in the first seven months of 2007, according to customs sources.

The European Union remained its largest partner with a trade volume of 190.1 billion dollars, a growth of 28.5 percent over the same period of last year, followed by the United States with 167 billion dollars, up 17.5 percent, and Japan with 130 billion dollars, up 15.2 percent.

Hong Kong was the mainland's fifth partner, with nearly 106 billion dollars, up 23.2 percent, only after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with 110 billion dollars, up 27.5 percent.

The total trade volume included 654.4 billion U.S. dollars in export, up 28.6 percent, and 517.6 billion U.S. dollars in import, up 19.5 percent. The trade surplus was 136.8 billion U.S. dollars, or 77 percent of the figure for the whole of last year.

Customs sources said the country saw a robust growth of 28.4 percent in machinery and electrical products exports in the seven months, reaching 369 billion dollars. Export value of new- and high-tech products amounted to 180.8 billion dollars, up 24.7 percent.