China reported a 58.3-percent increase in the export of hi-tech products during the first seven months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said in Beijing Tuesday.

Total hi-tech exports reached 83.80 billion US dollars from January to July, while hi-tech imports surged 40.7 percent to 86.46 billion US dollars.

The ministry said the faster growth in the export of hi-tech products than in import significantly reduced the nation's the deficit in hi-tech trade.

According to the ministry, the export of laptop computers rose by a big margin while integrated circuit and digital-control machine tools were the leading imported products during the period.

Areas along the eastern coast overtook those at the Pearl RiverDelta in the south to become major hi-tech exporters of the Chinese mainland.

The United States, the European Union and Hong Kong were the leading hi-tech export markets of the mainland, and Japan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China's Taiwan Provincewere the major sources of hi-tech imports.

China exported 258.08 billion US dollars worth of goods in the first half year, up 35.7 percent year-on-year, while imports totaled 264.9 billion dollars, up 42.6 percent.

Source: Xinhua