Japan's trade surplus expanded in July for the first time in two months, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier to 799.2 billion yen, helped by record-high exports to China, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

Exports grew 5.6 percent to 4.64 trillion yen, picking up after a 0.044 percent drop in June, which was the first decline in 15 months. The growth in exports outpaced that of imports, which rose 5.3 percent to 3.85 trillion yen for the 11th straight monthly increase.

Exports to China marked the largest amount in value terms on a monthly basis, at 588 billion yen, renewing the previous record of 566.2 billion yen in March.