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

During the January-July period, the volume of containers handled at China's ports rose 4.2 percent year-on-year to 168.68 million twenty-foot equivalent units, according to the ministry.

The growth continued the expansion during the first half of the year, in which over 140 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers were handled at China's ports, rising 3 percent from one year ago.

Cargo throughput at the country's ports topped 8.92 billion tons in the same period, edging up 0.1 percent over one year earlier and bucking the trend of contraction in the January-June period, the data showed.

The total throughput of ports monitored by the China Ports & Harbours Association rose 8.4 percent year-on-year in July, with foreign trade climbing 6.3 percent, earlier data showed.