China's May exports unexpectedly rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 8.5 percent, official data showed on Monday.

That left the country with a trade surplus of 279.12 billion yuan (41.65 billion U.S. dollars) for the month, according to customs data.

China's trade surplus to the U.S. increased by 11.9 percent during the first five months of this year. The U.S. is China's third largest trade partner currently.

The U.S.-China trade volume dropped by 9.6 percent to 1.42 trillion yuan, and now takes up 11.7 percent of China's total trade volume.

China's May exports to the U.S. dropped 3.2 percent to 1.09 trillion yuan, and imports from the U.S. dropped 25.7 percent to 750.62 billion yuan.

China's rare earth exports decreased by 16 percent on a monthly basis to 3,640 tons. During the first five months of this year, rare earth exports dropped 7.2 percent year-on-year to 19,266 tons.

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump on May 10 slapped higher tariffs of up to 25 percent on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese goods and then threatened to levy duties on all remaining 300 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports. Beijing retaliated with tariff hikes on U.S. goods.

Imports of major commodities expand

Customs data showed the second largest economy imported more major commodities for the January-May period of 2019. 

The country's crude oil imports went up 7.7 percent on a yearly basis to 205 million tons in the first five months, with refined oil registering a growth of 3.7 percent to the tune of 14.79 million tons. 

Imports of natural gas settled at 39.43 million tons during the same period with a year-on-year jump of 13.4 percent and coal imports also climbed by 5.6 percent year on year to 127 million tons. 

The customs data showed the country's total foreign trade inched up 4.1 percent from a year earlier to 12.1 trillion yuan (about 1.76 trillion U.S. dollars) for January-May.

China's private businesses posted faster trade growth in the first five months, with trade volume up 11.1 percent to 5.02 trillion yuan. That figure occupied 41.4 percent of the total trade volume in the period, up 2.6 percentage points year on year.

Major trading partners

The European Union (EU) served as China's largest trading partner from January to May with bilateral trade surging 11.7 percent year on year to 1.9 trillion yuan. ASEAN was second, with foreign trade up 9.4 percent to 1.63 trillion yuan, followed by the United States, down 9.6 percent to 1.42 trillion yuan.

Trade with countries involved in the BRI amounted to 3.49 trillion yuan with a year-on-year gain of nine percent, 4.9 percentage points higher than the overall pace, and the amount constituted 28.8 percent of the country's total exports and imports.

(With input from Reuters)