China's exports up 7% in May

China's exports rose seven percent year on year to 195.47 billion U.S. dollars in May, customs data showed on Sunday.

Exports picked up in May following a 0.9 percent increase in April and sharp declines in March and February.

In May, total foreign trade volume increased by three percent to 355 billion U.S. dollars, while imports were down 1.6 percent to 159.55 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

Trade balance realized a surplus of 35.92 billion U.S. dollars in May, expanding by 74.9 percent over the same period last year.

The combined foreign trade volume in the first five months saw a year-on-year growth of 0.2 percent to 1.68 trillion U.S. dollars, according to the GAC data.

During the Jan-May period, exports decreased by 0.4 percent but imports went up 0.8 percent. The trade surplus stood at 71.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Along with warming data, China's trade with major partners continued to rise from January to May. Its trade with the European Union, the United States, the ASEAN and Japan rose by 11.7 percent, 5.1 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

China set a trade growth target of 7.5 percent this year, lower than the 8-percent goal for 2013 and last year's actual expansion of 7.6 percent.

Zhang Ji, an official of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said last month that achieving the trade target was "an arduous task" as downward pressure is weighing on the country's economy.

To address the problem, China's State Council announced a guideline in May to secure stable growth of foreign trade. After that, the GAC among other authorities unveiled a string of pro-trade measures.