BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade registered steady growth in the first 11 months of 2019 by expanding 2.4 percent year on year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Sunday.

During the period, the total foreign trade volume reached 28.5 trillion yuan (4.14 trillion U.S. dollars).

Exports climbed 4.5 percent year on year to 15.55 trillion yuan, while imports hit 12.95 trillion yuan, the data showed.

China saw its trade surplus widen by 34.9 percent year on year to 2.6 trillion yuan during the period.

In November, China's foreign trade amounted to 2.86 trillion yuan, up 1.8 percent year on year.

Despite global economic and trade slowdown, China's foreign trade still maintained stable growth this year, showing the resilience of the Chinese economy, said Li Kuiwen, director of the GAC's statistics and analysis department.

Imports gained 2.5 percent to 1.29 trillion yuan last month, compared with a 3.5-percent decline in October.

"The improving import data in November reflected a pickup in domestic demand," Li added.

China's trade with the EU and ASEAN expanded, while trade with countries along the Belt and Road reported faster growth than the overall average.

Trade with the Belt and Road countries rose 9.9 percent to 8.35 trillion yuan from January to November, accounting for 29.3 percent of the total trade.