China's foreign trade continued to fall in September, but the rate of decline slowed sharply, the General Administration of Customs announced Wednesday.

The total value of imports and exports for September was $218.94 billion, down 10.1 percent from the same month last year, but an increase of 14.2 percent from August.

Imports stood at $103.01 billion, down by 3.5 percent from September last year and up 17 percent from August.

Exports in September dropped 15.2 percent from the same month last year to $115.93 billion, but their value rose 11.8 percent from August.

For the first three quarters, China's foreign trade was down by 20.9 percent from the same period last year to $1.56 trillion.

Exports dropped by 21.3 percent from the same period last year to $846.65 billion. Imports were $711.17 billion, representing a decrease of 20.4 percent from the same period last year.

The total trade surplus was $135.48 billion from January to September, a decrease of 26 percent from the same period last year.

In the first three quarters, the European Union remained China's leading trade partner, with a total trade volume of $260.05 billion, a decrease of 19.4 percent over the same period last year.

The trade volume between China and the United States, China's second largest trade partner, dropped 15.8 percent from a year earlier to $211.88 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency, October 14, 2009)