‍China's foreign trade performance continues to impress as the country’s commerce ministry on Monday announced that foreign trade volume for the first eleven months of this year rose by 15.6 percent on last year's figure to 25.14 trillion yuan. 

Exports were worth 13.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.6 percent, while imports expanded by more than a fifth to 11.29 trillion yuan. The trade surplus fell by 16.7 percent to 2.56 trillion yuan.

MOFCOM sent the message that China's trade with its major partners remained steady and strong, amid rising anti-globalization sentiment and a recovering global economy. 

During the first 11 months, exports to the United States expanded 15.4 percent while those with the European Union gained 13.3 percent year-on-year (YoY). Exports to China's fellow BRICS and Belt and Road countries also grew rapidly, with the export figure with Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and Malaysia increasing by 36.8 percent, 20.4 percent, 20.2 percent, 17.4 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively.

Statistics also reflected a further improved trade structure. In the first 11 months, general trade expanded 12.4 percent YoY to 7.53 trillion yuan, accounting for over half of the total trade volume. Trade volume of private enterprises rose 13.8 percent, accounting for 46.7 percent of the total, and 0.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year. In terms of commodity, export volume of mechanical and electrical products was 8 trillion and 50 billion yuan, accounting for 58.1 percent, and up 0.5 percentage points than last year.

The rapid growth is partly a result of economic recovery. Experts said the leading indicators are encouraging for both world and China's economies. 

Government policies have also made great contributions to foreign trade. Since the beginning of this year, China has continued to push forward the supply side reform as well as the innovation-driven development strategy, laying a solid foundation for the growing foreign trade. Meanwhile, Belt and Road projects have further strengthened mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries in the world, which provided new space for the growth of foreign trade.

Song Xianmao, counselor of the Foreign Trade Department of the Chinese Ministry Of Commerce, said that apart from relevant policies, Chinese enterprises have restructured and optimized themselves over the past years to adapt to the changing situation, and their efforts include developing brands, improving product quality and service capability. 

“Therefore, China managed to grasp the opportunities in the recovering global market,” Song said. “I think this is an important internal impetus and we have bright prospects for next year.”