According to General Administration of Customs, China's trade surplus dropped to USD 99.03 billion in the first half of this year down by 11.8% from the same period of last year.

Analysts said the fall was partly a result of China's policies to tame surplus but was also in part because of the rising prices of energy and resources.

Mr Li Jian an expert with the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce said "The trade surplus decline in the first half was broadly in line with market expectation."

The June export growth further slowed from May by 10.5 percentage points and the import growth was 9 percentage points lower. The export slowdown led the June trade surplus to USD 21.35 billion down by 20.66% YoY from the same month last year.

Mr Li said middle and small sized enterprises are faced with extremely difficult situations. He said that "The accelerated appreciation of the yuan fund shortage, continued price rises of raw materials, and labor cost increases have forced more and more enterprises into financial loss or bankruptcy."

Trade with the European Union China's largest trade partner rose 27.7 % to USD 202.14 billion in the first six months.