BEIJING, March 8 -- China's foreign trade dropped year on year in February, with a large amount of deficit, new customs data showed Saturday.

Total trade volume dropped by 4.8 percent year on year in February to 251.18 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.

Trade deficit stood at 22.98 billion U.S. dollars, compared with a surplus of 14.8 billion U.S. dollars last February, the statement said.