Foreign trade to continue improving in 4th quarter

China's foreign trade will continue to pick up in the fourth quarter of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

Exports growth jumped to $186.35 billion in September or 9.9 percent year-on-year, up from 1 percent in July and 2.7 percent in August, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs.

China's foreign trade hit $2.84 trillion in the first nine months, up 6.2 percent year-on-year.

"In view of the economic situation at home and abroad, the country's foreign trade in the fourth quarter is expected to maintain the rebounding momentum that emerged in September and grow at the average speed seen in the first three quarters," said the ministry's spokesman Yao Jian.

However, Yao cautioned that China still faced a "grim and complicated environment" in foreign trade, saying global demand remains anemic while international competition and trade friction are intensifying.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe and a slow recovery in the US have sapped China's exports, a major driver of growth in the world's second-largest economy.

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