BEIJING — China saw its foreign trade rise 6 percent year-on-year in August in yuan terms, with exports up 11.6 percent and imports down 0.5 percent, official data showed on Sept 7.

Foreign trade stood at 2.88 trillion yuan (about $421.14 billion) last month, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

In the first eight months of this year, foreign trade of goods went down 0.6 percent year-on-year to 20.05 trillion yuan, narrowing by 1.1 percentage points compared with the decrease in the first seven months.

During the January-August period, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained China's largest trading partner, with trade up 7 percent year-on-year to 2.93 trillion yuan, accounting for 14.6 percent of China's total foreign trade.

Trade with the United States decreased by 0.4 percent during the period, with imports from the country increasing by 0.2 percent, GAC data showed.