China's exports rose 25.1 percent in September from a year earlier to 144.99 billion U.S. dollars, but the pace of growth slowed from August's 34.4-percent surge, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Wednesday.

The country's imports rose 24.1 percent year on year to reach 128.11 billion U.S. dollars last month, with the growth rate down 11.1 percentage points from that in August.

China's foreign trade in the first nine months totaled 2.15 trillion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 37.9 percent, the GAC said in a statement on its website.

China's trade surplus for the first nine months totaled 120.6 billion U.S. dollars, down 10.5 percent from the same period last year, it said.

Trade with the European Union, China's largest trade partner, jumped 34.4 percent year on year to 349.49 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period, the GAC said.

Trade with the United States climbed 31.5 percent to 278.54 billion U.S. dollars during the period, while that with Japan rose 32.2 percent to hit 214.46 billion U.S. dollars.

Trade with ASEAN countries surged 43.7 percent year on year to 211.31 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters, it said.