Part of the drop in imports may be attributable to falling commodity prices. Iron-ore imports in the first seven months of the year rose 18.1 percent by volume while the average price fell 14.5 percent, the customs administration said. Crude oil imports rose 7.2 percent by volume and the average price declined 1 percent, and the average price of soybeans dropped 3.9 percent while the volume jumped 20.2 percent.

Ten of 48 economists in a Bloomberg News survey had projected a decline in July imports.

Hua said the comparison base last year for imports was high, so Friday's numbers don't necessarily show worsening domestic demand.

China's economy has entered the second half with a mixed picture of growth in factories and service industries. While an official index showed manufacturing expanded in July at the fastest pace in more than two years, a private gauge of services dropped to a record low, hurt by a real-estate slump.

Trade will rebound in the second half as incentives take effect and demand from developed nations increases, Shen Danyang, a Commerce Ministry spokesman, said in a briefing last month.

The IMF last month said the global economy will expand 3.4 percent in 2014, less than its 3.6 percent prediction in April. The report reflected a world rattled by geopolitical risks that have risen since April, including the potential for "sharply higher oil prices" because of recent Middle East unrest.

The organization lowered its US growth forecast to 1.7 percent from 2.8 percent before the world's largest economy reported second-quarter expansion at a 4 percent annual pace, exceeding analysts' estimates.

The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release July inflation data on Saturday and figures on industrial output, fixed-asset investment and retail sales next week. The central bank will publish credit and money-supply numbers by the middle of the month.

China's export beats forecast, surplus at new high	Paring off time