China's trade surplus fell to 123.72 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months, down 13.1 billion U.S. dollars, or 9.6 percent year on year, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

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

    The European Union (EU) continued to be the country's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling 243.14 billion U.S. dollars, up 27.9 percent from January to July.

    Exports to the EU rose 27.1 percent to 165.04 billion U.S. dollars, while imports grew 29.8 percent to 78.1 billion U.S. dollars, leaving a trade surplus of 86.94 billion U.S. dollars, up 24.9 percent year on year. The surplus growth, however, had decreased 29 percentage points.

    Exports to the United States, the country's second biggest trade partner, grew 9.9 percent to 140.39 billion U.S. dollars with a trade surplus of 91.67 billion U.S. dollars, up 3.8 percent year on year. The surplus growth, however, also declined by 15 percentage points.

    Japan remained China's No. 3 trade partner with bilateral trade totaling 154.93 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.2 percent.

    Jan.-July trade exports to Japan reached 65.48 billion U.S. dollars, up 15.9 percent, while imports totaled 89.45 billion U.S. dollars, up 21.6 percent. This created a trade deficit of 23.98 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 7 billion U.S. dollars over the same period of last year.

Continued at Xinhua News Agency