China's trade surplus in June hit a new high of 26.91 billion U.S. dollars, up 85.5 percent on the same month last year, the General Administration of Customs said on Tuesday.
The aggregate surplus for the first half of the year jumped 83 percent to 112.5 billion U.S. dollars, it said.
Imports rose 14.2 percent to 76.36 billion U.S. dollars in June but exports grew 27.1 percent to 103.27 billion U.S. dollars. The growth rate in June's exports was 1.6 percent lower than that in May.
China's foreign trade volume for the first half totaled 980.93 billion U.S. dollars, up 23.3 percent.
The administration predicted that the figure would grow by 20 percent to two trillion U.S. dollars this year, with the country's trade surplus reaching 200 billion U.S. dollars.
Huang Guohua, senior analyst with the administration, said China's trade surplus rose to a new high in June because domestic companies, whose export tax rebates were cut on July 1, were rushing exports out its doors.
The Chinese government announced on June 19 it would cut or eliminate export tax rebates for 2,831 commodities from July 1 in an attempt to "suppress overheated export growth and ease frictions between China and its trade partners".
The new policy covers more than a third of the total number of items listed on customs tax regulations.
To narrow its yawning trade surplus and ease frictions between China and its trade partners, the Chinese government has been encouraging companies to curb exports of products that consume vast amounts of energy and cause serious pollution during their production processes, and expand imports of high-tech goods.
China also imposed additional export tariffs and cut import duties as of June 1, leading to a similar export boom which lifted May's trade surplus by 73 percent year-on-year to 22.45 billion dollars.
Analysts say the continued growth of the trade surplus was also a result of the global manufacturing transfer from developed countries to developing ones.
Processing in Asia for consumption in Europe and North America made it difficult to achieve a balanced international trade over a short period of time, they argue.
Customs data show China's processing trade volume in the first six months rose 17.6 percent to 440.9 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly half of the country's imports and exports.
Chinese government also urge developed countries to relax restrictions on exports of high-tech products to China.
In the first six months, the European Union remained China's top trading partner, with bilateral trade volume reaching 158.4 billion U.S. dollars, up 27 percent on last year. The United States was second with a trade volume of 140.55 billion U.S. dollars.