Private enterprises have surpassed foreign-invested enterprises and become the leading force of China's foreign trade for the first time in 2019.

Imports and exports of private enterprises totaled 13.5 trillion yuan (about $2 trillion) in 2019, an increase of 11.4 percent, accounting for 42.7 percent of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 3.1 percentage points over 2018.

Among them, exports totaled 8.9 trillion yuan, up 13 percent year on year, and imports totaled 4.6 trillion yuan, up 8.4 percent year on year.

The number of private enterprises engaged in import and export reached 406,000 in 2019, according to Zou Zhiwu, deputy head of the General Administration of Customs, adding that this was an increase of 8.7 percent over the previous year.

"The current significant growth in the number of private enterprises reflects the continuous optimization of the domestic business environment, and is an important manifestation of the indigenous driving force and development vitality of China's foreign trade," Zou pointed out.

In 2019, imports and exports of private enterprises increased by 11.4 percent, and driving foreign trade growth by 4.5 percentage points.