A spokeswoman for China's currency regulator on Tuesday denied a report by state television that its export-fueled foreign exchange reserves have surpassed US$1 trillion.

State television reported late Monday, citing the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, that China's reserves, already the largest in the world, had reached US$1 trillion, which had been expected at about this time.

"We have not issued any statement like that," said a SAFE spokeswoman, who refused to give her name. She said she didn't know where the state television report originated and wouldn't give the current size of reserves.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese central bank, Xu Li, said the bank also hadn't issued any such statement.

In its last quarterly report on the reserves, the bank said October 13 that the total rose to US$987.9 billion at the end of September. The reserves are growing by about US$20 billion a month.

China's reserves are growing rapidly as the central bank buys up foreign currency in order to contain pressures that might ignite inflation as foreign money floods into the country amid an export boom.