China's foreign trade up 22.7% in first 3 quarters

China's total imports and exports expanded 22.7 percent year on year to 28.33 trillion yuan (US$4.38 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2021, official data showed Wednesday.

The figure marked an increase of 23.4 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Both exports and imports continued double-digit growth in the first nine months of the year, surging 22.7 percent and 22.6 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

In September alone, the country's imports and exports rose 15.4 percent year on year, 3.5 percentage points lower than August, the data showed.