BEIJING — Container throughput at China's major ports continued upward momentum in late December, data from an industrial association showed.

From Dec 21 to 31, container throughput at China's eight key ports increased 4.1 percent year-on-year, with the growth rate at Tianjin, Ningbo Zhoushan and Shenzhen ports exceeding 20 percent, according to the China Ports and Harbours Association.

For December, the container throughput at eight key ports rose 6.4 percent year-on-year. Specifically, the container throughput for foreign trade rose 7 percent from a year earlier, said the report.

The boom in container throughput for foreign trade came amid the rapid expansion in China's exports, which jumped 21.1 percent year-on-year in November in US dollar terms, the fastest growth since February 2018.