BEIJING - China's foreign trade maintained stable growth in the first three quarters of this year by expanding 2.8 percent year on year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday.

Total foreign trade volume reached 22.91 trillion yuan ($3.23 trillion) in the first 9 months.

Exports expanded 5.2 percent while imports dropped 0.1 percent, GAC data showed.

China saw its trade surplus widen by 44.2 percent year on year to 2.05 trillion yuan during this period.