BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's goods trade rose 8.9 percent year-on-year to 9.11 trillion yuan (about 1.43 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of this year, customs data showed Tuesday.

China's goods exports rose 6.4 percent year-on-year to 4.81 trillion yuan in the January-April period, while imports grew 11.7 percent to 4.3 trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus of 506.24 billion yuan, which narrowed by 24.1 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In April, goods trade surplus shrank by 27 percent to 182.8 billion yuan, as exports rose 3.7 percent year-on-year to 1.27 trillion yuan, while imports grew 11.6 percent to 1.09 trillion yuan, according to the GAC.

In the first four months, exports and imports of products under the general trade category surged 12.8 percent year-on-year to 5.34 trillion yuan, accounting for 58.6 percent of the total foreign trade volume, 2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

Chinese private enterprises played a bigger role in trade by contributing 38.6 percent to total trade, up 1.2 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

Exports and imports made by foreign-funded companies totaled 3.91 trillion yuan, up 4.6 percent, contributing 42.9 percent of the total foreign trade volume during the January-April period.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products rose 8.7 percent year-on-year to 2.84 trillion yuan, accounting for 59.1 percent of the total value of exports.

In contrast, exports of traditional labor-intensive products dropped 2.4 percent to 880.72 billion yuan, accounting for 18.3 percent of the total.

The EU, the United States and ASEAN were the top three trading partners of China, which accounted for 14.7 percent, 13.6 percent and 12.9 percent of the total foreign trade volume, respectively.

Trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 2.51 trillion yuan, up 11.6 percent year on year, 2.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate.

From January to April, China's trade with the EU, the United States, ASEAN and Japan grew 8.3 percent, 5.9 percent, 12.6 percent and 3.8 percent to 1.34 trillion yuan, 1.24 trillion yuan, 1.17 trillion yuan, and 664.13 billion yuan, respectively.

In the first four months, China imported more iron ore, crude oil and copper products while purchasing less soybean products from abroad, according to the GAC.