China's foreign trade up 28.5 pct in Jan.-April

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows the container terminal of the Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Geng Yuhe/Xinhua)

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's total imports and exports expanded 28.5 percent year on year to 11.62 trillion yuan (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of 2021, official data showed Friday.

This marks an increase of 21.8 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, the General Administration of Customs said.

Exports jumped 33.8 percent from a year earlier while imports climbed 22.7 percent in yuan terms.

The trade surplus increased 149.7 percent to reach 1.02 trillion yuan in the January-April period.

The country's imports and exports totaled 3.15 trillion yuan in April alone. This marks a year-on-year increase of 26.6 percent and month-on-month growth of 4.2 percent.

In April, the trade surplus narrowed 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 276.5 billion yuan.