China's foreign trade up 44.4 percent in January

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Exports in January stood at USD 109.47 billion, up 21 percent from a year earlier, while imports rose 85.5 percent to USD 95.31 billion, Xinhua reported.

The hefty increase was due to lower comparison bases a year ago when China's exports were hard hit by global financial crisis and less working days as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in January last year, the administration explained.

The trade surplus contracted 63.8 percent to USD 14.16 billion.