Containers are unloaded at Qingdao Port in Shandong province in March. [Photo by Yu Fangping/For China Daily]

China's foreign trade in goods in the first three quarters of 2021 totaled 28.33 trillion yuan ($4.39 trillion), up by 22.7 percent year-on-year, the latest data from General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday.

Exports grew by 22.7 percent on a yearly basis to 15.55 trillion yuan and imports rose by 22.6 percent to 12.78 trillion yuan.

Compared with the same period in 2019, China's total foreign trade, exports, and imports during this time expanded by 23.4 percent, 24.5 percent, and 22 percent, respectively.

The nation's foreign trade has been continuously expanding quarter-on-quarter, although with year-on-year growth rates slowing down.

The import and export values of the first three quarters stood at 8.51 trillion yuan, 9.59 trillion yuan and 10.23 trillion yuan, respectively, registering year-on-year increases of 29.7 percent, 25.2 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively.

Imports and exports of September grew by 15.4 percent from a year earlier, down 3.5 percentage points from that of August.