BEIJING -- China's total imports and exports expanded 22 percent year-on-year to 35.39 trillion yuan ($5.55 trillion) in the first 11 months of 2021, official data showed Tuesday.

The figure, already surpassing the 32.16-trillion-yuan total for all of 2020, marked a 24-percent increase from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Both exports and imports continued double-digit growth in the first 11 months of the year, surging 21.8 percent and 22.2 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

In November alone, the country's imports and exports rose 20.5 percent year on year, up 11.4 percent from that in October, the data showed.