(ECNS) -- Shanghai's imports and exports reached 447.57 billion yuan ($66.4 billion) in July, up 12.6% from a year earlier and marking the 18th consecutive month of growth, Shanghai Customs said Friday.

From January to July, foreign trade totaled 3 trillion yuan ($444.9 billion), up 17.7%.

AI related products — integrated circuits, storage components, and servers and related parts — drove much of the increase. Trade in these categories hit 92.67 billion yuan ($13.7 billion) in July, up 61.9%, contributing 8.9 percentage points to overall growth.

Trade with ASEAN rose 54.3% year on year in July, with trade with Vietnam and Singapore jumping 109.9% and 79.4%, respectively. Trade with the European Union increased 7.7%. 

Exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products totaled 27.17 billion yuan ($4.03 billion), up 70.2%. Exports of the three categories rose 88.7%, 20.8% and 79.2%, respectively.

(By Helen Mo, intern Yang Hongran)