Jan-Aug trade up over 16 percent

China's imports rose 20.9 percent year-on-year to $1.41 trillion in the first eight months of the year, demonstrating the country's commitment to a multilateral trading system, experts said on Sunday.

The country's two-way trade in goods during the period was 16.1 percent higher at $3.01 trillion, with exports up 12.2 percent at $1.6 trillion, according to the General Administration of Customs.

In the January-August period, exports and imports of products under the general trade category, which are differentiated from the processed trade category, gained 13.1 percent from a year ago to 11.43 trillion yuan ($1.67 trillion), accounting for 58.8 percent of total foreign trade, about 2.1 percentage points higher than the same period last year.