Foreign trade in Shanghai city in East China was worth a buoyant 2.21 trillion yuan ($341.07 billion) in the first seven months of the year, up 17.5 percent over the same period of last year, according to the latest statistics from Shanghai Customs.

Breaking down the numbers, exports reached 835.69 billion yuan, up 9.9 percent, while imports hit 1.38 trillion yuan, up 22.6 percent. In July alone, Shanghai's foreign trade reached 328.09 billion yuan, up 9.2 percent year-on-year, in the 14th consecutive month of growth.

During the seven months to end-July, nearly 60 percent of Shanghai's imports and exports were in general trade, worth 1.28 trillion yuan, an increase of 26.6 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, imports of integrated circuits – the largest commodity category – and exports of labor-intensive products declined, while automobile exports and diamond imports showed impressive growth.

Data showed that imports of integrated circuits slipped 1.1 percent to 162.02 billion yuan and exports of labor-intensive products was 104.15 billion yuan, down 7.7 percent.

But automobile exports hit 26.78 billion yuan, soaring 212 percent, while imports of diamonds were worth 16.57 billion yuan, surging 249.4 percent.