China’s trade surplus hit $14.5bn in June, another record, renewing pressure for a speedier revaluation of its currency and the further opening of its market to foreign companies and services.

The rapid ascent of the surplus, which totalled $61.5bn for the first half of the year, a 55 per cent advance on the same period in 2005, has been fuelled by strong export growth and substantial import substitution in key industries.