China's foreign trade in August dropped 9.7 percent year on year to 2.04 trillion yuan (320.8 billion U.S. dollars), a steeper decline than the 8.8 percent contraction in July, official data showed Tuesday.

Exports fell 6.1 percent year on year to 1.2 trillion yuan, compared with an 8.9 percent drop in July, while imports slumped 14.3 percent to 836.1 billion yuan, compared with July's decrease of 8.6 percent, according to data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Trade surplus expanded by 20.1 percent to 368 billion yuan in August.

In the first eight months, foreign trade slipped 7.7 percent year on year to 15.67 trillion yuan, GAC figures showed.

Exports dipped 1.6 percent to 8.95 trillion yuan in the Jan.-Aug. period, while imports fell 14.6 percent to 6.72 trillion yuan.

In the first eight months, trade surplus jumped 80.8 percent to 2.23 trillion yuan, according to the GAC.