China's total foreign trade was $1.97 trillion during the first 11 months of this year, up 23.6 percent from a year earlier.

The amount surpassed that for all of last year, and the growth rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than the January-October period, the General Administration of Customs said on Tuesday.

The total included $1.1 trillion in exports, up 26.1 percent, and $865.5 billion in imports, up 20.5 percent.

Export growth was 0.4 percentage points less than the January-October period, while import growth was 0.6 percentage points higher.

The trade surplus for the 11 months was $238.13 billion, up 52.2 percent. The growth rate was 6.8 percentage points lower than the level for the first 10 months.

In November alone, foreign trade went up 23.9 percent year-on-year to $208.96 billion, including $117.62 billion in exports, up 22.8 percent, and $91.34 billion in imports, up 25.3 percent.

Monthly imports exceeded $90 billion for the first time.

November export growth was 0.5 percentage point higher than the October level, whereas import growth was 0.2 percentage point lower.

The trade surplus stood at $26.28 billion in November, up 14.7 percent as against growth of 13.5 percent for October when the surplus was $27.05 billion.