China's foreign trade grew strongly on a year-on-year basis in November, boosted by rising demand ahead of the Christmas shopping season, as the nation's trade surplus narrowed.

China's exports rose 34.9 percent year on year in November to 153.33 billion U.S. dollars while imports jumped 37.7 percent to 130.43 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Friday.

The country's trade surplus fell to 22.89 billion U.S. dollars last month from 27.1 billion U.S. dollars in October.

The October surplus was the second highest of the year after July's 28.73 billion U.S. dollars one.

Exports and imports totaled 283.76 billion U.S. dollars last month - a new record high - compared with 273.09 billion U.S. dollars in September, the GAC said in a statement on its website.

The higher-than-expected exports were a result of "seasonal factors," said Beijing-based Huarong Securities analyst Xiao Bo, referring to the increase in orders ahead of foreign countries' shopping seasons.

Xiao expects Chinese export growth to fall in early 2011 as imports increase at a steady pace, which will cause the nation's trade surplus to further shrink.

China's foreign trade totaled 2.68 trillion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of the year, up 36.3 percent year on year, the GAC said.

The European Union remained China's largest trade partner, with EU-China trade increasing 33.1-percent year on year in the first 11 months to 433.88 billion U.S. dollars.

China's trade with the United States rose 30.2 percent year on year to 346.89 billion U.S. dollars in the January-November period while China-Japan trade jumped 31.7 percent year on year to 267.79 billion U.S. dollars.