China's foreign trade up 4.9% in first 11 months

Container vessels unload cargo at a terminal in Qingdao, Shandong province. (Photo provided to China Daily)

China's foreign trade expanded by 4.9 percent year-on-year to 39.79 trillion yuan ($5.5 trillion) in the January-November period of 2024, statistics from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

The country's exports rose 6.7 percent yearly to 23.04 trillion yuan, while its imports climbed 2.4 percent year-on-year to 16.75 trillion yuan during this period, customs data showed.

China's exports of electro-mechanical products grew by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 13.7 trillion yuan between January and November, accounting for 59.5 percent of its total exports.

The import and export value of China's private companies reached 21.99 trillion yuan in the first 11 months, an increase of 8.7 percent year-on-year, accounting for 55.3 percent of the country's total foreign trade value, according to the administration.

In the meantime, foreign-invested businesses recorded a foreign trade value of 11.67 trillion yuan, up 1.1 percent on a yearly basis, accounting for 29.3 percent of the nation's total.