Beijing, Jul 10 (IANS): China's exports rose 11.3 percent year on year to $180.21 billion in June, slowing from the 15.3-percent spurt in May, authorities said Tuesday.

Imports increased 6.3 percent to $148.48 billion, compared with a growth of 12.7 percent a month earlier, reported Xinhua.

Trade surplus jumped 42.9 percent year on year to reach $31.73 billion in June, surpassing market expectations, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

In the first six months of 2012, total foreign trade reached $1.84 trillion, an increase of 8 percent year on year, lower than the 10-percent increase targeted by the government for the whole of 2012.

Combined trade surplus surged by 56.4 percent year on year to $68.92 billion in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, exports rose 9.2 percent to $954.38 billion during the January-June period, according to the GAC data.

Customs authorities attributed the trade slowdown to the persistent impact of the global financial crisis, saying China's trade with the European Union (EU) and Japan almost stalled in the first half of this year.

"We are still facing a more complicated and severe situation in foreign trade," GAC spokesperson Zheng Yuesheng told a press conference releasing the customs data.

"But China's core competitiveness in manufacturing will not see significant changes in the short term."

"If the world economy, particularly the European debt crisis, does not become worse, we will hopefully achieve the 10-percent growth goal in foreign trade this year," Zheng added.

Even though the debt crisis still bites, the EU remained China's largest trading partner in the first half of this year, with bilateral trade reaching $267.82 billion, up slightly by 0.7 percent from a year ago.

In the first half of this year, China's trade with the US -- its second-largest trade partner -- reached $231.12 billion, up 11.9 percent year on year.