BEIJING, May 8 -- China's foreign trade continued to weaken in April but with narrowing exports decline, official data showed on Friday.

Last month, the foreign trade volume dropped by 10.9 percent year on year to 1.96 trillion yuan (320.56 billion U.S. dollars) from a year earlier, following a 13.5-percent decrease in March and an 11.3-percent increase in February, said the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

But April's exports declined 6.2 percent, 8.4 percentage points less than a 14.6-percent slump in March, indicating the external environment is improving.

Total foreign trade posted a 7.3-percent decrease in the first four months, falling to 7.5 trillion yuan, with exports rising 1.8 percent and imports dropping by 17 percent, according to the GAC data.

Trade surplus soared by 85.2 percent to 210.21 billion yuan last month, while expanding 3.4 times to 965.37 billion yuan in the Jan.-April period, the GAC said.

China's trade with the European Union, its biggest trade partner, waned by 4.9 percent from January to April, while that with the United States, the second largest, rose 2.3 percent.