China July Trade Surplus Second Highest

China Friday reported its July trade surplus totaled $24.35 billion, the second highest monthly total on record after June’s $26.9 billion.

Though down slightly from June, the July figure was sharply higher than the $14.6 billion reported in the same month last year.

The figures were announced by China’s General Administration of Customs.

The official Xinhua news agency reported China’s total foreign trade in the first seven months of this year reached $1.17 trillion, up 24.4 percent from a year ago. That produced a seven-month trade surplus $136.81 billion.

China is already under intense pressure to revalue its currency because a cheaper Yuan allows it to flood the world with its exports.

Both China’s July exports and imports set monthly records. Exports for the month jumped 34.2 percent to $107.74 billion from the same month last year while July imports rose 26.9 to $83.39 billion.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson visited China last week to press the government to speed up its currency reform measures. There are also growing safety concerns about some of China’s exports.

On China’s part, its central bank has raised interest rates three times this year and raised the reserve ratio of commercial banks’ several times.