China's foreign trade volume increased 8.6 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2022 to 38.34 trillion yuan ($5.5 trillion), indicating steady development, official data showed Wednesday.

Exports rose 11.9 percent year on year to 21.84 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.6 percent to 16.5 trillion yuan during the period, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Exports of new energy products stood out among the categories. In the first 11 months of this year, China's lithium batteries and solar cell exports increased by 86.6 percent and 74.3 percent, respectively.

China's trade with its major partners maintained steady growth momentum in the first 11 months. Trade with countries along the Belt and Road jumped 20.4 percent, and trade with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership member states climbed 7.9 percent.

Trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China's largest trading partner, increased by 15.5 percent during the period, while trade with its second-largest trading partner, the European Union, rose 7 percent from a year earlier.

However, in dollar terms, China's exports fell 8.7 percent in November from a year earlier, and imports fell 10.6 percent for the month as global demand was dampened by rising interest rates in major economies and production disruptions caused by domestic COVID-19 flare-ups.

China's major cities have continued to optimize COVID-19 response measures in recent days, easing quarantine rules and testing requirements.

South China's manufacturing hub Guangzhou lifted all temporary control measures in low-risk areas from November 30 after being hit by a COVID-19 outbreak earlier in the month.

Officials pledged to stabilize economic growth, bolster domestic demand and optimize pandemic-control measures to promote high-quality growth in 2023 at a meeting of Political Bureau of Communist Party of China Central Committee on Tuesday.