Trade between China and Africa reached 99.84 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, up 17.3 percent year on year, showed data from the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

During January-June, Chinese exports to Africa surged 8.1 percent from the same period last year to $50.37 billion.

Imports from Africa gained 28.6 percent year on year to $48.47 billion.

 In June alone, China-Africa trade totalled $16.82 billion, an increase of 15.0 percent from a year earlier.

Among these, Chinese exports to Africa increased 8 percent year on year to $9.3 billion, while imports amounted to $7.52 billion, up 24.4 percent year on year.

In the first half of this year, the growth of China's trade with Africa was only lower than that with Latin American.

Agencies.