China’s foreign trade volume reached 20.29 trillion yuan (3.08 trillion US dollars) with a year-on-year increase of 16.6 percent in the first three quarters of this year, according to data released by the country’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Friday.

Exports increased by 12.4 percent to 11.16 trillion yuan, while imports surged by 22.3 percent to 9.13 trillion yuan.

Trade surpluses shrank 17.7 percent to 2.03 trillion yuan in the same period.  

Trade with China’s longstanding main markets witnessed a full recovery, with exports to the European Union, the United States, and Japan up by 16.4 percent, 18.7 percent, and 14.9 percent respectively. 

Both the trade volume and the share of private enterprises increased as well. Their combined volume reached 17.8 percent and accounted for 38.5 percent of the total, 0.4 percentage points higher than in the same period last year.

GAC spokesperson Huang Songping added that China's exports to the DPRK over the summer dropped more than 6 percent for the first time.

China says it has been strictly implementing UN sanctions on the DPRK – though there has been some trading between the two countries which has been questioned by the international community. Although Beijing announced a ban on coal imports from the DPRK in February, China received 1.63 million tons of no-smoke coal from the DPRK in August. 

"In August, China's exports volume to the DPRK has for the first time witnessed negative growth, down by 6.4 percent year-on-year. In September, the trade volume fell 6.7 percent. Meanwhile, imports from the DPRK have decreased for seven consecutive months. In September, the import volume saw a large drop of 37.9 percent. Among all products, imports of coal, iron ore and clothes have witnessed declines, and there were no imports of aquatic products," Huang said.

In September, China's foreign trade rose 13.6 percent to 2.46 trillion yuan, with exports up 9 percent and imports up 19.5 percent. Trade surplus shrank 28 percent to 193 billion yuan.

China's export growth is seen as a positive sign in terms of maintaining employment levels and mitigating job losses amid a national campaign to cut overcapacity in industry.

(CGTN's Han Jie also contributed to the story)