China's foreign trade expands steadily in first 11 months

China's trade in goods logged steady expansion in the first 11 months of this year, as the government's stimulus package helped consolidate the foundation of economic recovery and growth further.

The country's foreign trade of goods expanded 8.6 percent year on year to 38.34 trillion yuan (about 5.78 trillion U.S. dollars) during the period, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Exports rose 11.9 percent year on year to 21.84 trillion yuan, and imports increased 4.6 percent from a year ago to 16.5 trillion yuan.

From January to November, China's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States grew 15.5 percent, 7 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

In this period, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road soared 20.4 percent year on year to 12.54 trillion yuan.

Private enterprises saw imports and exports increase 13.6 percent from a year ago to 19.41 trillion yuan in the first 11 months, accounting for 50.6 percent of the country's total.

In terms of specific trade goods, mechanical products, electrical products and labor-intensive products continued to be popular exports, with the mechanical and electrical products accounting for 57.1 percent of the country's total export value.

China's exports of automobiles surged 79.3 percent year on year, and exports of cellphones ticked up 4.2 percent over a year ago.

During the first 11 months, the country's imports of iron ore, crude oil, coal, natural gas and soybeans shrank.

In the latest move to shore up support for the real economy, the central bank announced in late November that it would cut the reserve requirement ratio for eligible financial institutions by 0.25 percentage points. The adjustment took effect on Monday and will inject 500 billion yuan of liquidity into the economy.

Prior to the move, a State Council executive meeting held on Nov. 22 said that China will take solid steps to ensure the full and effective implementation of the policy package to stabilize the economy and follow-up measures, to consolidate the foundations of economic recovery and growth.

On Tuesday, a meeting convened by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee stressed that the country will pay special attention to ensuring steady growth, employment and prices, forestall and defuse major risks effectively, and strive to achieve an overall improvement in the country's economic performance, characterized by higher quality and reasonable growth.