HARARE, Oct. 24 -- Trade between China and Zimbabwe increased by 39.4 percent to 2.43 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period of last year, surpassing the total trade volume for 2022, the Chinese embassy said Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's exports to China during this period totaled 1.36 billion dollars, while imports amounted to 1.07 billion dollars, the embassy said, adding that "China's continually expanding imports contributed to a 29 million dollars trade surplus for Zimbabwe."

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, in August, China was Zimbabwe's third-largest export destination, with neighboring South Africa as the largest and the United Arab Emirates as the second-largest export market. Regarding imports, in August, China was Zimbabwe's second-largest source market after South Africa.

Trade between China and Zimbabwe has seen positive growth in recent years, primarily driven by mining and agricultural exports to China.

Zimbabwe marked its first citrus exports to China this month, diversifying and expanding its agricultural exports to the Asian country, which had previously been dominated by tobacco leaf and processed tobacco.