Aerial photo taken on July 29, 2022 shows a container vessel at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao Port, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Over 2.71 million certificates of origin were issued by Chinese authorities during the first seven months of the year, involving 233.31 billion U.S. dollars, up 23.7 percent year on year, official data showed on Monday.

This shows that China has maintained a steady foreign trade momentum, Sun Xiao, spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, told a press conference.

Certificates of origin are documents widely used in international trade transactions. They state that the products listed have met sufficient criteria to be considered as originating in a particular country. The issuance of these certificates is widely regarded as a barometer of foreign trade.

Some 70,200 certificates of origin were issued by Chinese authorities under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement for over 15,000 enterprises, involving a total of 3.432 billion U.S. dollars, Sun said.