Containers pile up at Waigaoqiao Port in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China's exports in yuan-denominated terms slumped 20.6 percent year on year to 821.8 billion yuan ($126.3 billion) in February, while imports dropped 8 percent to 612.3 billion yuan, customs data showed on Tuesday.

The decline in exports widened from a 6.6 percent decrease in January, but that of imports narrowed from 14.4 percent a month earlier, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The monthly foreign trade surplus shrank by 43.3 percent year on year to 209.5 billion yuan in February, down from 406.2 billion yuan a month earlier.

Total foreign trade value in February fell 15.7 percent year on year to 1.43 trillion yuan, a steeper decline than the 9.8-percent contraction seen in January.

Trade with China's biggest trade partner, the European Union, dropped 9.7 percent year on year in the first two months of 2016, GAC data showed.

In the same period, trade with the United States, its second biggest trade partner, went down 12.2 percent and that with the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the third largest trade partner, dipped 14.9 percent.

Trade by private firms, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of the country's total, slipped 7.3 percent year on year in the Jan.-Feb. period. State-owned companies fared worse, posting a 21.4-percent plunge in trade.

Foreign trade in the first two months was 12.6 percent lower than a year earlier at 3.31 trillion yuan, with exports down 13.1 percent to 1.96 trillion yuan and imports down 11.8 percent to 1.35 trillion yuan.

In the first two months of this year, the trade surplus narrowed by 15.9 percent to 615.9 billion yuan.

In dollar-denominated terms, China's exports fell 25.4 percent from a year earlier in February, worsening from the 11.2-percent decline in January. Imports dropped 13.8 percent, a milder decrease than 18.8 percent in January.

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