BEIJING — China's foreign trade of goods fell 11 percent year on year in the first two months of this year to $592 billion amid disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, official data showed on March 7.

Exports dipped 17.2 percent year on year to $292.5 billion during the period, while imports decreased 4 percent to 299.5 billion dollars, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The trade deficit stood at $7.09 billion, while the trade surplus was $41.5 billion in the same period last year.

ASEAN countries have became China's biggest trade partner in the first two months, with the combined trade volume rising 2 percent to 594.1 billion yuan (about $85.68 billion), accounting for 14.4 percent of the total.

Bucking the downward trend, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road stood at 1.31 trillion yuan, up 1.8 percent year on year.

During the January-February period, the country's trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan decreased 14.2 percent, 19.6 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively.

Import and export value has shown an increasing trend in February, said an official with the GAC, adding that 80.6 percent of the surveyed foreign trade companies have resumed work.

The epidemic will only have a temporary impact on China's foreign trade, instead of changing its positive development trend in the long term, said the official.

Starting from this year, the GAC will release the foreign trade data of the first two months together in March, in line with the data release of the National Bureau of Statistics.