BEIJING — China's container throughput at ports maintained expansion in the first half of the year, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.

During the January-June period, the container handling volume at China's ports rose 3 percent from one year earlier to 140 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to the ministry.

Cargo throughput at the country's ports reached 7.58 billion tons in the same period, down 0.8 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

The ministry attributed the slight decline to a decrease in imports of coal, crude oil, and iron ore, among other commodities.