China's total trade surplus stood at 23.3 billion US dollars for the first three months of this year, said sources with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Wednesday.

According to a report released by the customs office, China's export volume grew by 26.6 percent year on year to 197.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, while imports were worth 174 billion U.S. dollars, up 24.8 percent from a year ago.

China saw a record high monthly trade volume of 144.9 billion U.S. dollars in March, an increase of 24.9 percent year on year.

Exports in March reached 78.04 billion U.S. dollars, growing by 28.3 percent year on year, while imports reached 66.86 billion U.S. dollars, up 21.1 percent.

GAC reports that China's general trade in the first quarter reached 156.79 billion U.S. dollars, with exports growing by 24.4 percent from a year ago to nearly 82 billion U.S. dollars while imports were up 22.3 percent to 74.8 billion U.S. dollars.

Exports of processed goods grew by 27.3 percent year on year to over 107 billion U.S. dollars and import processing volume was up 26.5 percent to 70.84 billion U.S. dollars.

The European Union remains China's top trading partner with bilateral trade growing by 21.1 percent year on year to 57.11 billion U.S. dollars.

The United States is China's second largest trading partner. and Japan, the third, with the trade volume reaching 55.62 billion U.S. dollars and 45.97 billion U.S. dollars respectively.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remains China's fourth largest trading partner with bilateral trade growing by 25.7 percent year on year to 34.53 billion U.S. dollars.