China's foreign trade of goods fell 11% year on year in the first two months of this year to 592 billion U.S. dollars amid disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, official data showed on Mar. 7.

Exports dipped 17.2% year on year to 292.5 billion U.S. dollars during the period, while imports decreased 4% to 299.5 billion dollars, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The trade deficit stood at 7.09 billion U.S. dollars, while the trade surplus was 41.5 billion dollars in the same period last year.

ASEAN countries have became China's biggest trade partner in the first two months, with the combined trade volume rising 2% to 594.1 billion yuan (about 85.68 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 14.4% of the total.

Bucking the downward trend, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road stood at 1.31 trillion yuan, up 1.8% year on year.

During the January-February period, the country's trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan decreased 14.2%, 19.6% and 15.3%, respectively.

Import and export value has shown an increasing trend in February, said an official with the GAC, adding that 80.6% of the surveyed foreign trade companies have resumed work.

The epidemic will only have a temporary impact on China's foreign trade, instead of changing its positive development trend in the long term, said the official.

Starting from this year, the GAC will release the foreign trade data of the first two months together in March, in line with the data release of the National Bureau of Statistics.

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