489.59 billion

In the first half of this year, the total import and export tariffs collected by Chinese Customs were 489.59 billion yuan ($72 billion), up 35.6 percent year on year.

$460 million

China Aluminum International Engineering Corp. Ltd. signed a cooperation contract with Viet Nam National Coal-Mineral Industry Group to jointly invest $460 million to build an aluminum production factory in Viet Nam

TO THE POINT: The Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) grew 10.4 percent in the first half of this year, with the inflation rate rising as high as 7.9 percent. The trade surplus in the first half of this year shrank 11.8 percent from the year-earlier period because of the fast appreciation of the yuan and lower external demand for Chinese goods. Meanwhile, crude oil exports surged 550 percent in June year on year, ignoring domestic shortages in various industrial sectors. Foreign direct investment in earthquake-hit Sichuan Province in the first six months was nearly double last year's amount during the same period in a show of optimism for the province's economy. The sluggish mainland stock markets created solvency problems for small insurers, who received a warning from the government's insurance watchdog.  By LIU YUNYUN

Economic Performance in H1, 2008

In the first half of this year, the country weathered the damage caused by various natural disasters, and the national economy developed soundly and stably in general.

GDP

The GDP grew 10.4 percent in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period last year, and reached 13.0619 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion). The growth rate was down 1.8 percentage points from the year-earlier period.

Though growth momentum remained, the growth rates of the agricultural, industrial and service industries had all declined, down by 0.5 percentage points, 2.4 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points, respectively.

Industrial profits

The industrial growth rate slowed, while companies' profits kept rising. In the first half, profits of industrial enterprises whose yearly revenue is more than 5 million yuan ($732,000) grew 16.3 percent year on year, down 2.2 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.

The top five most profitable industrial sectors included petroleum and natural gas exploration, ferrous metal smelting and processing, the manufacturing of transportation equipment, chemical raw material and chemicals, and coal mining and washing.

CPI

The consumer price index (CPI) growth rate slowed down to 7.9 percent