BEIJING, Dec. 9 -- China's cargo and container throughput at ports logged steady expansion during the first 10 months of this year, official data showed.

The country's cargo throughput at ports was 14 billion tonnes during January-October, up 8.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Specifically, foreign trade cargo throughput at the ports rose 10 percent from the same period last year to 4.2 billion tonnes.

During the first 10 months, China's ports handled 257.03 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, 4.9 percent higher than a year earlier.