China's Chongqing Municipality saw its foreign trade total about 376.6 billion yuan (about 58 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half (H1) of this year, customs data showed.

The figure marks a robust increase of 37.6 percent over the same period last year, according to Chongqing Customs.

Its exports surged 37.7 percent to 232.1 billion yuan, while imports reached approximately 144.5 billion yuan, up 37.5 percent year on year.

Chongqing's trade with major trading partners including ASEAN, the European Union and the United States respectively hit around 63 billion yuan, 58.7 billion yuan and 55.5 billion yuan during the period, up 24.5 percent, 33.6 percent and 32.3 percent.

Notably, Chongqing's private businesses witnessed a strong performance, with a total import and export value of 162.7 billion yuan, up 78.8 percent. Enditem