Beijing, Aug 8 (IANS): China's foreign trade dropped 7.3 percent year-on-year to 13.63 trillion yuan ($2.23 trillion) in the first seven months of 2015, official data showed on Saturday.

Exports edged down by 0.9 percent from a year ago to 7.75 trillion yuan, while imports slumped by 14.6 percent to 5.88 trillion yuan, Xinhua cited data by the General Administration of Customs.

The trade surplus doubled to hit 1.87 trillion yuan in the January-July period.

In July, foreign trade decreased by 8.8 percent from the same period last year to 2.12 trillion yuan, with exports declining by 8.9 percent to 1.19 trillion yuan and imports falling by 8.6 percent to 930.2 billion yuan.

The trade surplus in July dropped by 10 percent to 263 billion yuan.

Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC, attributed the slump in export growth mainly to sluggish external demand, especially exports to the European Union (EU) and Japan.

Trade with the EU, China's largest trade partner, slipped 7.6 percent year on year in the first seven months to 1.98 trillion yuan, with exports dropping by 4.4 percent to 1.22 trillion yuan and imports plunging by 12.4 percent to 757.32 billion yuan.

Trade with Japan fell 11.1 percent to 976.7 billion yuan, with exports and imports both dropping by 11.1 percent to 471.06 billion yuan and 505.64 billion yuan respectively.

However, trade with the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations managed to climbed by 2.7 percent and 1.3 percent to reach 1.92 trillion yuan and 1.62 trillion yuan respectively, driven by increased exports to those countries.