BEIJING -- China's macro-economic moves to balance foreign trade were paying off as the country's trade surplus growth had slowed by September, Chinese customs officials said on Monday.

China's trade surplus, standing at US$185.65 billion in the first nine months, slowed by 2.1 percentage points compared with the growth registered in the first eight months, according to the customs officials, without revealing the exact figure for the surplus growth in first nine months.

The latest figures released by the State Administration of Customs also showed China's trade volume totaled US$1.57 trillion for the first nine months, up 23.5 percent on last year, or a drop of 0.5 percentage points over that for the first eight months.

The September trade surplus also came lower at US$23.9 billion, down from US$24.98 billion in August and a record US$26.91 billion in June.

The country exported US$878.24 billion of goods in the first nine months, representing a growth of 27.1 percent from a year earlier, or a slowdown of 0.6 percentage points over that for the first eight months.

China has imposed export tariffs, removed or cut tax rebates on exports and expanded the category of products of processed trade listed as "discouraged" since June, in a bid to lower the surplus.

However, the trade surplus figure in the first three quarters has already surpassed that for the whole of 2006, which soared 74.2 percent to a record US$177.47 billion.