foreign trade Photo:Xinhua

China's exports and imports gained pace in August, despite soaring international freight and port congestion caused by new round of COVID-19 outbreak, highlighting stable growth momentum in the country's foreign trade.

The country's foreign trade reached $530.3 billion in dollar-denominated terms in August, up 28.8 percent year-on-year, up 4.2 percent month-on-month, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Tuesday.

Exports totaled $294.3 billion in August, up 25.6 percent year-on-year, beating market expectations of 17.3 percent year-on-year. Imports totaled $236 billion, up 33.1 percent year-on-year, also higher than the forecasted 26.9 percent.

In the first eight months, the country's foreign trade hit $3.83 trillion, up 34.2 percent year-on-year, and an increase of 29.3 percent compared with the same period in 2019, according to the customs. Over the period, exports stood at $2.1 trillion, while imports were at $1.73 trillion.

China's exports to major trade partners sustained growth during the period, with ASEAN remaining the largest trade partner, followed by the EU and the US. It's worth noting that China's foreign trade with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative grew 24.6 percent to 7.29 trillion yuan ($1.13 trillion).

Between January and August, the exports and imports of Chinese private enterprises posted the fast growth, with their share seeing a continuous rise. These companies' foreign trade reached 11.92 trillion yuan, accounting for 48.1 percent of the country's total, up 2.3 percentage points year-on-year, the GAC said.

In addition, the exports of machinery and labor intensive products both maintained growth in the first eight months, as many economies rush to recover production in the wake of serious outbreaks.

The hard-won result came amid high international freight and port congestion as a result of the temporary suspension of operations of a terminal at East China's Ningbo Zhoushan Port - one of the world's busiest cargo ports - due to a positive case of COVID-19 in early August.

Without extreme conditions, China's trade in goods is expected to realize double-digit growth year-on-year, also compared with 2019 pre-pandemic level, to hit $5.1 trillion this year, Wan Zhongxin, director of the Research Center of the General Administration of Customs, said during the China International Fair for Trade in Services on Friday, domestic financial media outlet 21jingji.com reported. 

Wan said that the country's cargo trade is expected to rise to account for around 15 percent globally, according to the report.