China's July export beats expectations to grow 18 percent year-on-year at $332.96 billion in U.S. dollar terms, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Sunday.

The number was stronger than the 17.9-percent expansion in June and exceeds Reuters estimates of 15 percent growth and Bloomberg's 14.1 percent gain.

July imports logged in at $231.7 billion – a yearly increase of 2.3 percent and higher than the 1 percent growth in June – but missed Reuters expectation of a 3.7-percent expansion. As a result, China's trade surplus widened to $101.26 billion in July.

China's imports and exports to the countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) reached 1.17 trillion yuan ($173 billion) in July, fueling China's overall trade growth by 5.6 percentage points in the same month.

"The RCEP came into effect this year, further deepening regional economic connectivity and trade and investment cooperation while providing new momentum for regional economic recovery and development," said GAC spokesperson Li Kuiwen.

In the first seven months of this year, China's trade with its fellow 14 member countries in the RCEP was up 7.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 19.8 percent year on year.

China's foreign trade volume totaled $3.64 trillion in the first seven months of 2022, up by 10.4 percent from last year's corresponding period.

From January to July, China's trade with its top three trading partners, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union, and the U.S., saw year-on-year increases of 13.2 percent, 8.9 percent, and 11.8 percent, respectively.

Its gross domestic product added 2.5 percent in the first half of 2022. Headline data showed the recovery has gathered momentum since June while the economy continued to rebound in July.

At a tone setting meeting in late July, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee called for fuller and better use of the already announced policy measures in stabilizing the economy in the second half of the year.