BEIJING, June 10 -- China's foreign trade of agricultural products maintained the trend of expansion in the first four months of this year, with the total value up 9.7 percent year on year to 111.71 billion U.S. dollars, official data showed.

Breaking it down, exports of those products rose 6.4 percent to 31.74 billion dollars, while imports went up 11.2 percent to 79.97 billion dollars, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The trade deficit hit 48.23 billion dollars in the January-April period, up 14.6 percent year on year, the data revealed.