BEIJING, Jan. 13 -- China's exports in yuan terms climbed 2.3 percent year on year in December, compared with November's 3.7-percent drop, while imports declined 4 percent, an improvement over the previous month's 5.6-percent fall, customs data showed on Wednesday.

Exports rose to 1.43 trillion yuan (218 billion U.S. dollars) in December while imports dropped to 1.05 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC) data.

Total foreign trade values in December edged down 0.5 percent year on year to 2.48 trillion yuan, while monthly trade surplus widened to 382.1 billion yuan from 343.1 billion yuan in November, customs data showed.

For the whole year of 2015, China's foreign trade surplus widened to 3.69 trillion yuan, an increase of 56.7 percent from a year earlier, data showed.

Exports fell 1.8 percent year on year to 14.14 trillion yuan in2015, while imports declined 13.2 percent to 10.45 trillion yuan in2015.

Last year, the country's total export and import values decreased 7 percent year on year to 24.59 trillion yuan.

GAC spokesman Huang Songping attributed the foreign trade decline in 2015 mainly to falling commodity prices and sluggish demand.