Data released Friday shows that China's foreign trade totaled 20 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of this year. That's a 17-percent increase from a year ago. Let's take a look.

 

China's foreign trade totaled 20 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2017, up 17 percent from 2016. Exports amounted to 11 trillion yuan, rising 12 percent while imports exceeded 9 trillion yuan, up more than 20 percent. The trade surplus stood at 2 trillion yuan. That's 18 percent less than last year's number. A spokesman for the General Administration of Customs -- Huang Songping says he's optimistic for more growth.

 

HUANG SONGPING, SPOKESMAN GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF CUSTOMS "Generally speaking, China's foreign trade will continue to grow steadily. If nothing goes wrong, we expect foreign trade to grow in the fourth quarter and achieve double-digit growth."

 

Huang also warned that such risks as trade protectionism remain. He also said competition from emerging countries has squeezed some market share of Chinese labour-intensive products. Meanwhile, the customs authority also released data on foreign trade with countries included in the Belt and Road initiative. The trade numbers for those nations jumped more than 20 percent from January to September, faster than the average growth. At the same time, foreign trade grew strongly in China's underdeveloped central and western regions.