China's foreign trade up 22.7 pct in first three quarters

China's total imports and exports expanded 22.7 percent year on year to 28.33 trillion yuan (about 4.38 trillion U.S. dollars) 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 slower than August, the data showed.