The trip by rail and sea was about 20 days shorter than if the goods had been sent by sea.

The foreign trade value of North China's Hebei province reached 313.46 billion yuan ($46 billion) in the first seven months of this year.

Profits at China's industrial companies fell in the first seven months of this year as the country grapples with pandemic-related disruptions, high temperatures and insufficient domestic demand.

China's booming environmental protection industry is playing an increasingly important role in boosting economic growth.

Most of the capital goods monitored by the Chinese government posted higher prices in early August compared with late July this year.

China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang saw its foreign trade in goods grow 31.9 percent year-on-year to 145.06 billion yuan ($21.52 billion) in the first seven months of 2022, according to local customs.

For this year, mining exports could hit US$3.8bn, up 20% on 2021, Franco Mignacco, president of the Argentine chamber of mining entrepreneurs (CAEM), told state news agency Télam.

He urged steel enterprises to optimize technologies and engineering progress.